Princess of Magic
by Anime-2000
Summary: [Magic Trilogy 2] Every year there's a tournament: The Shadow Realm Games. Brutal contests are held to decide which monster is the best in the realm! Dark Magician Girl's entering this time but will she be able to beat her teacher? AND the champion? DMGDM
1. Meet Me, My Friends, And Enemies

Princess of Magic

By Anime2000

Well, I've done some editing to my author's notes. DMG speaks in italics...

_Hi!_

And a more slightly more detailed explanation is in chapter 12. This is 'Princess of Magic', second fic in the 'Magic Trilogy.' Okay?

_Part one would be 'I Am The Dark Magician Girl'!_

'I Am the Dark Magician Girl' is finally over. Now, I can work on this fic! And the last part of the trilogy! I'd like to thank all my wonderful reviewers. I would obviously not have gotten so far without your support!

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Cold. Wet...huh? I opened my eyes to see an elf with and empty bucket in her hands. Her golden hair was damp from either sweat or the water she had splashed on me. It clung to her blue face. "Hi, Dark Magician Girl!" she said excitedly. "Are you awake!" 

"I am now," I muttered, getting up groggily. "Mystical Elf, how did you get in here?" I asked rubbing my eyes. She didn't climb through my window...did she? She's usually the type of monster that wouldn't even stand on a chair.

"I climbed up!" she said smiling. Her eyes were wide and she was practically jumping up and down. This could only mean one thing.

"Did you eat sugar again?" I asked, yawning and trying to run my fingers through my own tangled blonde locks. "How much this time? A pound? Two?" When she eats sugar, she can do many things she normally can't do. Say, climb up to my room. I learned that a little while after the Duel between Yugi and Noa. I looked at her. Then back at myself. I was absolutely soaked!

"Three!" she squealed. She shoved the 'Shadow News' (the newspapers) in my face. "But never mind that! Look! The tournament! Are you ready!" I grabbed the paper. The tournament... The most important event in the Shadow Realm! In this competition, monsters that are from many parts of the Shadow Realm participate! Whether for Duels or just contests, this is an extreme event and determines which monster is the best in this entire realm. "So, are you ready!"

"Well, pretty much, yeah..." I said. I knew her respond was not going to be good. Especially with all that sugar she ate. Sugar and rage does not mix well. I grinned nervously and prepared for the wrath of the Mystical Elf.

"WHAT! "How can you say that!" she demanded, tossing the bucket aside. I ducked. Or at me. "Haven't you been training!"

"Of course!" I said, pretending to be offended by her accusation. Then seriously, I said, "I'm just really bad at the Magical Boxes!" That's true. I can get it once in a while, like in a Duel in the other realm, but not all the time. It can be very dangerous with all those swords piercing that box at once. If you're not careful, you could get killed! I would know.

"Well," she said, putting her hands on her hips. "You'd better master that or you'll lose in your first round!" with that, she grabbed the papers from my hands and marched out of my room. I heard her downstairs. "Look, Dark Magician!" There was some rustling of newspapers.

"Ow! Yes, the 'Shadow News'. I've heard of it."

I sighed and quickly changed to my normal armor and ran downstairs. Mystical Elf was right. If I didn't get my act together in that act, I would lose my first round in no time. "Hey Master," I said as I walked past him. He looked at me as if to ask what Mystical Elf was doing here. And possibly how.

"Good morning, Dark Magician Girl," he said to me. "Is there... something wrong?" He used to be really distant from me, but now, he's very nice. It's been that way since my first Duel. I've been to many Duels since then. At my master's side, or all alone, but I know he's always there, cheering me on.

"Oh, nothing," I lied. It doesn't matter if I couldn't preform the Magical Boxes. I might not even need to use them at all in the tournament. The Shadow Realm Games. The real tournament doesn't always fit its name. This year, we'll be fighting each other. I might even go against my master for all I know! So that would mean I have to work hard... Agh, what am I saying? I've been training for months for this thing! I'm pretty good and I'm really looking forward to it! "I'm going out for a while," I said, hoping to get his permission. "Ah... can I?"

"Yes," he said, nodding, "While you're at it, could you get some bandages? We're all out." I nodded and grinned sheepishly. I was the one who used them all up when I tried the Magical boxes. Seventeen times isn't so much! Is it? Heheh...

"I'll come with you!" Mystical Elf said jumping up and down.

"Okay," I said, opening the door. "Come on!" We walked out the door and in to the cool morning air. The sun was up and there were no clouds in the sky. Summer in the Shadow Realm isn't always so bad. Most of the times, it's like this. The people who are sent to the Shadow Realm never see it. I don't know why. Wait, maybe some do. Okay, I don't know.

"Ooh, uh, Dark Magician Girl?" whispered Mystical Elf as we walked past the Magic Shop. There were many different items there and I enjoyed looking in there too. It's always fun to see the new items and what they do. I didn't feel like going through all the objects in that shop today. The tournament was...tomorrow. I'm nervous. Okay, anxious. Scared. Terrified. No, just nervous. I think.

"You go in," I said to my elfin friend. "I meet up with you later, okay?" she clapped her hands childishly and skipped into the shop. I sighed and walked to the medical shop.

"Hey, DMG!" I heard a familiar voice. I turned to the counter. Black, red, him... Oh yeah. The Magician of Black Chaos. He calls me DMG. I guess it's because it's much easier to say than Dark Magician Girl. Many Duel Monsters call me DMG except my master, close friends, and those who think they were very important.

"Hi," I said. I'd didn't feel like saying his name today. I usually never do. "I didn't know you worked here." He's usually training for... well, any Duel.

"Well," he said, slightly embarrassed. "I...needed the money." Hm, I wonder if this was what Mystical Elf was talking about in the haunted house. "It's not funny." He reminded me kind of like my master. He usually doesn't blush, except when monsters are talking to him and the topic they're chatting about is me. And him. Together. I looked down at the counter to keep the chaos mage from noticing my pink face. "So, what can I do for you?" he asked politely. That's unusual because he's normally rude to me.

"I need bandages," I told him, turning redder. He smirked and grabbed a box from a shelf.

"Ah yes. Cut yourself while trying to perform the Magical Boxes?" he asked in a teasing tone. Oh, now that's the Magician of Black Chaos that I know. "That's an easy trick," he said to me as he took my money and handed me the change. I stuck my tongue out at him and walked out the door. "Well, it is!" I heard him yell after me. He's always trying to show off. Always trying to prove himself to everyone. Well, I can't blame him. His attack power is pretty good. Better than mine anyway.

I walked to the Magic shop. I hope my friend wasn't causing too much trouble there. "Wah!" I heard a shopkeeper cry. "Watch it, girl!" A black and yellow blur swept through the streets. Many other people gasped in surprise when it rushed past them. It was heading straight at me! Before I could get out of the way, it slashed at me and a cut appeared on my cheek.

"Ow!" I winced as the hazy figure slowed down to reveal that it was...the Dark Witch. "What are you doing!" I demanded, wanting to know why I had been attacked. She smirked and walked leisurely towards me.

"Well, well," she said in a mocking voice. "If it isn't the Dark Magician Girl." She liked to be called Maya. She usually hangs around the Harpy Ladies and can be very malicious to people she doesn't like. Guess who's number one on that list! Me! "So, do you think that you'll pass your first round? Tch, why am I asking. Of course not!"

That made me mad. What does she know about me? I'm no beginner. Okay, I was, but I'm getting MUCH better. "You witch! What're you doing here? Just to ridicule me!"

"Oh, of course not!" she said. "I don't have THAT much time to waste! And I take that 'witch' statement as a compliment." She smirked and ran towards me. Her speed is her power. There isn't a single monster that's as fast as her. That I know of, at least. My attack power is stronger than hers, but I know one basic rule that every monster should know. Attack and defense mean nothing in the Shadow Realm unless it's an official Duel. She ran past me in a haze and I received another blow. This time on my other cheek. "IF we do meet up in the tournament, I'll have the pleasure of destroying you!" I heard her yell as she ran off.

"I'll be the one who wins our Duel," I hissed, wiping away the blood on my face. I watched her trip a redheaded girl as she made her exit. The girl fell over backwards and was looking at Maya in amazement. I ran over to help her up. She was really thin and she had tears in her eyes. "Are you all right?" I asked. I hope that Maya didn't hurt her.

"Oh, I'm fine," she said, getting up. "Thank you," She wiped her eyes and looked at me. "I'm the Unhappy Maiden." Oh. So she was like this all the time?

"I'm the Dark Magician Girl," I said, still pondering that question. "Pleased to meet you." She seems cheery. It doesn't look like she's really miserable.

"Ah, you must be wondering about me name right?" she asked, giggling. "Well, I'm okay. I'm not homeless and I just never gain any weight. Can't say I know why, though." She smiled and began to walk away. "My parents must be getting worried. I'd better get home to my studies."

"Uh, okay. Bye," I said, feeling glad that she was going to be all right. Hm, she recovered pretty quickly. I heard some shouting behind me, right when she left. Turning around, I saw the Judge Man pushing past many monsters. Good, it wasn't Maya, but why does he seem so distressed? "Um, sir?" I asked when he came close to me. "What's the matter?"

"What's the matter!" he cried, looking around frantically "Have you seen my daughter anywhere, girl?"

Wait a minute... "Does she have red hair?" I asked.

"Yes."

"Blue dress."

"Yes!"

"Unhappy Maiden?" I asked doubtfully.

"YES! That's her!"

"Why are you looking for her?" I asked hesitantly. I didn't want to face his anger and impatience. He was a war hero and had a very nasty temper. Oh yes, he happens to be a judge in this year's tournament.

He looked at me for a second. I guess he was surprised that I dared to ask him that question. "She ran away when I was taking her to her lessons. Why?" he asked suspiciously.

"Uh, well. I just saw her and she said that she was going to her lessons," I told him, hoping to reassure him.

To my surprise, he just moaned and walked away. He muttered something that sounded like "I demand to know who taught her to lie!"

I shrugged. So the Unhappy Maiden is the Judge Man's daughter. Probably adopted. Well, I'd better go find Mystical Elf. I hope her sugar rush is gone. I walked in the Magic shop. The air was damp and musty. Sure, this shop would give anyone the creeps, but the items on the shelf were amazing! To my relief, Mystical Elf wasn't hyper anymore. "Hello, Dark Magician Girl," she said calmly. "They have new equipments here."

"Wow," I whispered as I scanned the shelf. They even had the Sword of Deep-Seated here. That blade is extremely rare. I expected the Baron of the Fiend Sword to get that. I mean only aristocrats can afford them! I sighed and headed to the door. "C'mon Mystical Elf. Let's go. I have to train as much as I can." I started to walk. Hm? Someone was behind me. It wasn't Mystical Elf. It was...

"Well, hi Dark Magician Girl." I looked behind me. Of course. It was the Dark Sage, the creepy owner of the Magic shop. He taught my master everything he knows about magic. He's known as the Master of Spells because he can summon any magical items to the Duel in the other Realm and this one. Normal Spellcasters can summon items only in the Shadow Realm. My master is known as the Ultimate Wizard of Attack and Defense. I wonder if I'll have a name as grand as theirs. "I see," he said closing his eyes. Okay, he's really scaring me right now. "You have problems with love, am I right?"

"W-wha...?" I stuttered. What does he mean? Does he read minds or something? How does he know!

"Someone tall, dark, and handsome?" I swear my mouth dropped down to the floor. "Am I right?" he asked.

"You... How...? Wha..." I whispered, my eyes wide. Tall, dark, handsome...he just described the Dark Magician! My master!

He burst out laughing, "I've been saying that to every girl that comes here today. But, this is the only time that I was right!" he laughed. Wha—wha—wha...! "Let me guess...Tall, dark, handsome...my last apprentice?"

"N-No!" I laughed nervously. "I-I..."

"What are you talking about?" Huh! Mystical Elf! I forgot she was here! "So, what are you talking about?" she repeated patiently.

"Oh, nothing!" I said and pushed her out the door. "Not one word of this!" I said to the Dark Sage. I hope he won't tell anyone. It's kind of my secret. But, I think my master likes me too. Oh, what am I thinking? But, what he said in my first Duel. And he can't be being nice for no apparent reason! But...

"Dark Magician Girl?" the Dark Sage's voice broke my train of thought.

"Uh, yeah?"

"Here. Take this." He handed me two wooden tubes. They had question marks on them and were decorated beautifully. "This is the first time that I was right and I have no clue what they do. They're new and flings anything that is dropped on it back the direction the thing was thrown from. I'm sure it'll be of some use to you." Does that mean they're defective?

"Um, thanks," I said taking the two cylinders. I'm not sure what it'll do, but I'll figure it out later.

"Hey! Dark Magician Girl! Hurry up!" I heard Mystical Elf call to me, "The crowd's starting to come in for magic items-ouch! Hey! Stop pushing me!"

"Okay, bye Mr. Sage," I said and ran out the door. Just in time too, the crowd rushed past me and nearly pushed me down! "Whoa! Excuse me!" I said as I bumped in to the Celtic Guardian. Then his brother, Giltia the D Knight. "Sorry!" I pushed past the crowd and finally got out.

"Mr. Sage must love this time of the year," declared Mystical Elf. "He gets more customers now then he does the whole year!"

I brushed some dirt off my clothes. Okay, I did fall down, but only because someone pushed me...Wait a minute. It was Maya! I looked in the crowd and saw her. "Have a great trip," She gave me one of her mockingly sweet smiles. "I'll see you next fall!" I looked at her with pure hatred, and was tempted to just walk over and hit her with my wand. Surprisingly, I didn't.

"Ooh, that monster is the worst," Mystical Elf snarled when we were walking home. "I hate her!" She was fuming now. "I can't believe she just pushes you around like that!" she turned to me. "Why don't you fight back!" she asked. I've never seen her so mad before. Even during a sugar rush!

"Well, I don't plan to fight her right now," I explained to the angered elf. "I'm waiting for the tournament." I looked at Mystical Elf, hoping that she'd feel better and go back to her normal, gentle, sweet, self. Her response surprised me. Although, it really shouldn't have.

"Then, you'll destroy her! Right?"

"Uh...right." I nodded and walked back to my house. I just want to beat her. That's all. I don't plan to humiliate her in front of everyone, but if that's how Maya wants it then that's how it'll be.

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Hurrah! First chapter's done! And it's kinda boring, yes, but the tournament starts next chapter! R&R, please! 


	2. Let the Tournament Begin!

Princess of Magic

By Anime2000

Disclaimer: Anime2000 doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh!. Though it's not like any of you do either. Or do you? If so, hi, Mr. Takahashi! And those who have the supreme privilege of owning Yu-Gi-Oh!

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"Urgh! Stupid trap items!" I yelled, hurling the cylinders to the other side of my room. 

The door opened. "What's wrong Dark Magician Girl?" Master asked, walking in. Ah, he heard me.

"It's these trap items! Magic Cylinders," I sighed. "They're supposed to absorb anything and throw it back at the direction it was thrown from. Remember Yugi's?"

"And?"

"Well, they're not working!" I said, walking over and picking them up. "I've only succeeded in scorching some paint off. It doesn't do anything!" I handed them to him.

"Hm," he said, examining it. "It might work in the Duels."

"Then why not now? There must be something wrong with them."

Master shook his head. "No," he said, giving them back to me. "Dark Magician Girl, every item or person or thing has magic in it."

I stared at him blankly. "Um..." I took a guess. "Are they like Equip magic?"

"Uh...well..." said Master, trying to explain this to me. "It's sort of like that, but not really and... you know...have you ever heard of hidden magic?"

"Uh...what?" I asked. He lost me.

"Well, there's a couple of different kinds hidden magic..." he looked at me. I must have had a dumb look on my face because he said, "You don't understand do you?" he asked.

"Sorry." This was very embarrassing!

"It's all right," he said. "You're not supposed to learn about that until you're seventeen."

"I'm almost there!" My birthday, well I think, is in fall...though, fall might be skipped because we ARE in the Shadow Realm, and in here anything goes.

He smiled. "Well, we had better be going," he said. "Or we'll be late and disqualified from the tournament."

I nodded. "Right! Let's go!" I said, grabbing my wand from my bed.

It was a fairly sunny day outside, but the Master said it was going to rain. Whenever he says that, he's right. I didn't mind. Rain is fine as long as there are no thunderstorms.

"Dark Magician Girl."

"Yes Master?"

"Does it feel like we're being watched?" he asked, looking around warily.

"...watched—?"I felt a something sharp poking me on the back of my neck. Whirling around quickly, I saw- "Maya!"

She smiled haughtily at me and lowered her spear. I glared at her. "Hi, Dark Magician Girl." She turned and looked at my master. She had a crush on him before, but now...actually, I don't know what's going on now. "Hi, Darky." Darky! Why is she calling him THAT!

"Hey!" a familiar voice said. "Dark Magician Girl!" It was the Mystical Elf.

"Oh, hi!" I said, glad that she wasn't hyper anymore. But when she saw Maya, she walked towards her.

"Oh hello Maya," she said, every one of her words dripping with hatred. "Shouldn't you be going somewhere else? Like, oh say...the tournament?" She glared at her loathingly. Geez. I didn't think that she could be so mean. I mean she's usually one of the nicest Duel Monsters in the realm! I guess Maya really gets on her nerves.

Maya looked at her and grinned. "Oh fine," she said. "Ruin my fun." She walked pass her and when she walked by me, she whispered to me, "You won't have your friend or 'Master' to protect you in the competition." then she sped off towards the arena.

"And you two had better be going too!" said Mystical Elf. Her kind and cheery attitude was back and it seemed pretty strange that she was like that a few moments ago. "It starts in four minutes and it takes at least seven to get there from here! You know how the Judge Man is! Even if you're one second late, he'll disqualify you!"

"We could fly," Master said twirling his staff slowly in front of him.

"Yeah, okay," I said, dropping my wand. It rose a foot in to the air from the ground, and I sat on it. Master was already standing in midair on his staff. He's good at keeping his balance. Wish I was. "Coming?" I asked Mystical Elf.

"Um, no" said my blue-skinned friend. "I...get airsick. Don't worry. I'll walk. You guys have to get there in time!"

"All right!" I said. "Seeya!" With that, my wand flew up and so did my master's staff. Flying is definitely faster than walking. Even if it requires more effort!

"Perfect!" I said. We got there three seconds before the time limit!

"And it looks like the Dark Magician and his apprentice is late!" said the Witty Phantom cheerfully.

"Hey! We got here just in time!" I cried, jumping off my wand.

"Oh," he said disappointedly. "Well Dark Magician and Dark-...your apprentice. Looks like you two have made it so you're still in."

"Um, my name is the Dark Magician Gir-" I started, but the Witty Phantom stopped me.

"Yes, yes. Whatever" he walked past me and to the middle of the arena. "All right you pathetic group of monsters!" his voice boomed through the stage. "Each of you can do your best, but only one can..." he paused and pulled out a few slips of paper, grumbling. "Oh yes. But only one of you can win this contest of courage, speed, and...and...JUDGE MAN! GET OVER HERE! YOU CALL THESE CHICKEN SCRATCHES WORDS!" he yelled at the warrior. The Judge Man rolled his eyes and walked over, muttering something around the lines of "Witty Phantom? More like Witless Phantom."

"It says 'skill' you worthless fiend!" said Judge Man ripping the paper from his hand.

"Well, no one can read YOUR handwriting!" complained the annoyed phantom. Meanwhile, the Unhappy Maiden had walked over to take care of things.

"Um...while my dad and the Witty Phantom..." she paused to look at the two who were now kicking dirt at each other. "...settle their disagreement, I'll just go over the rules...which the Witty Phantom has..." she sighed. "Well, anyways," she said, snatching the Witty Phantom's hat off his head. "I'll put a few cards with numbers on them. "The person that has the same number as you do will be your opponent for the first round of Duels. The number you picked will be the—" she stopped because some monsters had gotten bored of her explanation. What was the point? Most of them had already entered the tournament before and knew the rules.

"Hey! I'm in Duel number three," said Celtic Guardian, holding up a slip of paper. And that's how it works. The number you picked will be the Duel number you're in.

"Well, so am I," Oh no. I turned around to see Maya.

"Eep," said Celtic Guardian. He knew he was in trouble. Since these were official Duels, attack and defense counted.

I walked over and drew a card. "Hi, Dark Magician Girl," the Unhappy Maiden greeted me.

"Hi," I said, smiling nervously. "First time."

"Ah, but of course! Good luck!"

"Thanks!" I drew a card and...Number one! I'm in the first Duel! There were so many monsters from different decks! This is an international event, so Duel Monsters from different decks could be here. Luckily, this year, it's held in Yugi's deck so I didn't have to walk too far. I suppose this is similar to...the Olympics in the other realm.

"Whose Number one?" Hey! I know that voice. Well, sorta, but I know I've Dueled the guy before! But who was it?

"Here!" I said, hoping to find out. He walked over to me and I dropped my wand in surprise. "Hey! It's you! Black Magician!" I exclaimed. I didn't think that he would be here!

"Dark Magician Girl?" he asked. "Long time to see," he said, smiling. Well, at least I know he's not mad at me and just joined to get revenge. "You beat me last time, but that was only because you had your master and my brother backing you up. This time, we'll Duel without any help!"

"All right," I said. I don't know if I can beat him! He's a skilled magician while I'm still an apprentice! And I only defeated him by pure luck and Yugi—Yami's skill last time... Ah, heck with it! I'll find a way. "Good luck," I said to him as I picked up my wand.

"Same to you," he replied.

In the arena, the judge and phantom were still arguing.

"You're too stupid to understand anything!" yelled the Judge Man.

"Ah, but at least I know more than you!" the Witty Phantom said mockingly.

"Dimwit!"

"Old man!"

Master looked at the two and shook his head. He walked up to them. "Are you finished yet?" he asked the two who were making faces at each other. They didn't pay attention. "That's enough!" Still nothing. I looked at Master. He was getting pretty frustrated. He raised his staff and then stabbed it in the ground. "Silence!" he yelled, sending a jolt of dark energy across the arena. That did it. They stopped immediately. Guess no one wanted to mess with my master when he was angry.

"All right, all right," said the Witty Phantom. "Temper, temper." He's the announcer this year, which is really, really bad. He's known to criticize everyone! Even Exodia!

According to a couple of my friends, it's practically a tradition to shake your opponent's hand before you Duel. The Black Magician and I shook hands and walked to opposite sides of the field.

"The Black Magician and..." Witty Phantom paused. Urgh! How could he not know my name?

The Unhappy Maiden walked up to him and said. "Um, sir? It's Dark Magician Girl"

"Huh? Oh yes. The Black Magician vs. The Dark Magician Girl! I'd tell you the rules, but I'd rather you figure it out for yourselves!" he said gleefully. Just like him, except he forgot something... "Bu since you're so clueless, I'll just tell you that you start our with 3000 Lifepoints! That's all, suckers!" There we go. Now THAT is just like him. "DUEL!" his voice boomed through the stadium. A few monsters winced. Sensitive ears.

I didn't know what to do. I guess I should just wait for the Black Magician to make the first move. Unfortunately, that was his same idea. We just stared at each other, daring the other to start the match.

"HELLO!" yelled Witty Phantom, much to some monsters' dismay. "Is this a Duel or a staring contest!" He's right. We can't just stand here all day, but I don't know what to do! Black Magician seemed to sense that and started the Duel. He dashed forward to me and attacked. I couldn't move! If I did, I'd lose 2500 Lifepoints! I had to just stand here, but I'd just lose 500 Lifepoints.

I winced when the dark wave of magic hit me. But at least it didn't hurt a lot. I mean, I've faced the power of a God Card and that was pure agony right there! Or maybe he was going easy on me. Agh, whatever! When the magic disappeared, I looked behind me. "Wha...?" I gasped. I didn't lose any Lifepoints!

"Well, well!" said Witty "Looks like Dark Magician...Girl! Dark Magician Girl found out that you have to directly attack your opponent's Lifepoints to do any damage! Bravo!" Hey! Did he just say that? "But any monster would've figured that out much sooner than her!" Never mind.

That's how it works? Seems easy enough! Wait! Where did Black Magician go? A sudden blast of power from behind me made me fall over. I dropped my wand again. He attacked my Lifepoints and was ready to strike again! Muttering a spell, I summoned the first Trap Item I could think of. "Magic Cylinders!" Ack! Not that! I still haven't figured out how to use it! Never mind that, if I don't do something, I'll definitely lose my first round! I threw the cylinders at him.

Ra, I hope this works!

* * *

Just doing some editing... You can ignore me, if you like! 


	3. Winning

Princess of Magic 

By Anime2000

Disclaimer Man: Yup. Owned by Anime2000. When? Never! Haha! She'll never own it because-

For the love of Ra! (takes an anime mallet and sends him flying to the next fic in the trilogy) Great, now I'll have to worry about him next time!

* * *

"Whoa!" The Black Magician quickly jumped away. As soon as the cylinders hit the ground, it was like...like... A dark hole! It was sucking everything in! That trap item wasn't defective, but dangerous! Actually, yeah, it was probably defective too.

The winds were getting stronger, as was the noise. "What is going on?" yelled the Witty Phantom, grabbing on to the Judge Man. I could barely hear him. That was the good news. The bad news was that if I don't stop it, then everyone would be sucked in!

"GET OFF OF ME, YOU BIG BABY!" roared the Judge Man, trying to pry the terrified fiend off of him. Now, that I could hear.

Oh wait... It's not going to swallow everyone up! Once the Magic Cylinders had absorbed the attack, then it would shoot it back the direction it came from! I guess there's nothing I can do now, but wait for that to happen.

A HUGE blast of dark magic was shot out of one of the cylinders and back at his Lifepoints! All right! It came out so forcefully that even the monsters from the back of the stadium could feel its power! Imagine how I felt. I shrieked as it blasted me a yard away from where I was standing. "Owww..." But at least now we're even. 500 to 500.

"That...was...awful!" murmured the Witty Phantom, coming out from his hiding place. "Someone could've gotten hurt! Namely ME!" he jumped up on the Judges' Table and started waving his arms around, ranting about the dangers of traps and spells and how they should be banned from the tournament. No one paid attention. What was a good Duel without the effects of magic?

The Judge Man sighed and grumbled a few words. His 'daughter' giggled at what he said. I could almost hear the whole audience sigh in relief. But I'm wondering why the Magic Cylinders haven't vanished yet. It should have disappeared by now because it wasn't a continuous trap. Unless-

"Dark Magician Girl! Run!" That was my master. Okay, now I know I'm right!

"Oh Ra, no!" The cylinders are starting to suck everything up again! And the blast had blown me right in front of the trap. I could feel myself being pulled towards it rapidly, as if invisible arms were dragging me closer and closer to it! I'm gonna get taken out by my own trap. It's actually pretty funny if you think about it... But now right now of course!

"We're all gonna die!" wailed the announcer.

'No... In magic, there's a hidden power in every item or living thing. There are many different ways to tap in to that power. But calling it's name when using it is the most effective. It doesn't always work, but it's faster than anything else.' "Magic Cylinders!" I called out. That did it! It stopped and vanished.

How did I know what to do? "Resume the Duel!" shouted the Witty Phantom. I sighed and nodded. Okay, I've got a plan, but I can't be sure that it'll work. I ran to the Black Magician's side of the field. I couldn't attack his Lifepoints directly because he could obviously attack mine before I even reach his! When I got there, I closed my eyes to summon the first step to my strategy. "Okay, Magical Boxes!" Two boxes appeared around the Black Magician and me. Like coffins. I shook that idea out of my head. "What is she doing!" the Witty Phantom asked. "She can't perform that even if her life depended on it!" I ignored him. After muttering the spell that was required, I waited. That's all a magician can do.

"Hope it worked," I prayed and jumped out of the box, which vanished when my feet touched the ground. There were no swords in either of the boxes, but that's what I was aiming for. Now, the only problem is which side I'm on right now. The Black Magician came out of his box and it disappeared after serving its purpose.

Now, my wand... I don't have it with me. I must've dropped it or something—Something threw itself against me before laying lifeless again. Oh yeah! I left my wand on MY side of the field. Sighing in relief, I picked it up. It is really kind of hard to believe how attached to something you can be. After all, it's... I suppose, alive.

"Now, Dian Keto, The Cure Master!" I said, summoning the second tool that I needed. Hopefully, our town healer will lend me some of her magic. Right after I said that, I felt a strange sensation. It was as if silk was surrounding me. My whole body started glowing and I knew that she had let me use a bit of her power.

"Ah," said the Black Magician. "I see you're using magic to save your Lifepoints"

"That's not all," I replied, as the light started to fade. "I can do some damage to your Lifepoints now!"

"But Dian Keto doesn't do that" he said giving me a strange look.

"Nope!" I said, waving my wand. "But Tremendous Fire does! Thanks to the Magician of Black Chaos. And it inflicts damage directly!" Yes, he did let me use it. But he did say that it was for weak Duel Monsters. I don't really like using this. It could cause some serious burns, but getting close to his Lifepoints again won't be as easy as the last time. Out of my wand blossomed fire spirits. Although they're very small, they could cause a LOT of trouble. They're also pretty hard to capture, but when caught, they'll be loyal to the owner no matter what. However, it's impossible to control them, so I'll lose 500 Lifepoints when he loses 1000. The little spirits twirled around, sending flames everywhere.

"Umi!" a huge wave of water put out the fire almost immediately. It soaked everyone from the monsters on the field to the front row of the audience. I heard a Harpy Lady shriek in disgust.

But it also flooded the entire field. The little spirits howled in fear and flew away, probably to sulk in their bottle or something. I hope Graceful and Skull don't mind. "But I don't understand," I said, taking my helmet off and dumping the water out as I watched them leave. "Umi just increases Aqua types or decreases Pyro types. Not extinguish fires when in a Duel..."

"You're forgetting," smiled the red mage. "This is the Shadow Realm, so Umi isn't just a field card like in the other realm."

"Oh," I said, blushing in embarrassment. "Yeah, I kinda forgot tha—"

"I'm soaked!" moaned the miserable phantom. His hat was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh, suck it up," said the Judge Man, rolling his eyes. The Unhappy Maiden calmly wringed some water from her hair. She looked at the Witty Phantom and sighed.

The water was up to my waist. I can't believe he summoned up so much water! I mean, the most I've gotten before was two inches! But this is bad; how am I supposed to move around... quickly? I jammed my helmet back on my head, but making sure that it was on right first.

"I guess me flooding the field wasn't such a good idea" he said, grinning. He slowly rose from the water. How did he—oh, never mind. He's standing on his staff. Hey! How come everyone can do that perfectly except for me! "So, should we make this Duel aerial?"

The whole crowd started cheering. "Aerial! Aerial!" was their chant. Oh man! This is not going to be easy! But I might as well. I'd have better luck in the air than in water.

I sighed and sat down on my wand. It levitated higher and higher until I was at the same distance from the ground as the Black Magician. He tried a Dark Magic Attack. I barely dodged it, and almost fell off my wand. Streams of dark magic sailed past me. Sometimes they hit their target.

I raised a shield of dark energy to protect myself, and it seems to be working out pretty well. I think that was what he was expecting me to do because he was a few meters away from me. Now, he's...right in front of me! I almost dropped my shield in surprise. He unleashed a powerful blast of magic at me. I gasped as the force hit my slightly weaker defense.

That did it. My shield shattered and the flash of magic knocked me out of the air and in to the water. It wasn't too deep and I was falling quickly, so I hit the bottom immediately. "Ah!" I closed my mouth the second I uttered that and grabbed my wand, which was starting to float to the surface. Well, maybe my other idea didn't work out too well, but this might. I decided to let go of my blue and pink helmet and swim towards the Black Magician's side of the field.

I couldn't hold my breath any more! I surfaced when I was a couple of feet away from his Lifepoints. Without another second of hesitation, I hit it with all the power I had.

"And guess what! That girl actually won! Ha! Who would've thought that!" The whole crowd started cheering; it was really a great feeling. I smiled numbly. I won...right?

The water disappeared. Everything was back to normal for the next Duel.

"Congratulations, Dark Magician Girl," I looked behind me to see the Black Magician. He presented my helmet to me. "You beat me," He said, looking at me with respect in his eyes.

I put my helmet back on. "Well," I said, folding both arms behind my head and grinning. "I was just lucky this time!"

"No, it wasn't luck," he said, shaking his head. "You a great magician. Dark Magician trained you well."

"Really? Thanks!" I exclaimed happily. I can't believe I actually won my first round. "So, where are you going now?"

"Oh," he said, shrugging. "I suppose to join the audience. I don't plan to leave just yet, so I'll see you later then." He walked away.

"Wow! DMG, that was amazing!" said Celtic Guardian when I had walked back inside to where the rest of the contestants were. "You beat him! Hey, are you carrying any good luck charms? It's the helmet, isn't it?"

"I can't believe you actually did it!" the Flame Swordsman said, laughing "Uh...not that I had any doubt in you!" he added quickly before bursting into laughter again.

"I know," I said, beaming. "But, does anyone know where my master is?"

"Um...actually, no," said Neo the Magic Swordsman. "I haven't seen him anywhere since you won. It's odd."

"I know," agreed Giltia. "He should be here. Especially since his apprentice won in her first round!"

I sighed. "All right. But tell me if you see him!" I said and ran off to see if I could find him. I wonder where he is... "Nnh!"

I bumped, no, crashed in to someone. I suppose it wasn't a very good idea to run so fast. I fell to the ground, backwards. "Ah, sorry!" I said, pushing my helmet up to get a better look at who had knocked me down. I saw... "M-Master?" I asked, uncertainly. No way! But the person that I bumped in to was a Dark Magician. Except, he had blue armor, pale green skin, and hair as blond as my own.

"Dark Magician Girl, there you are-"It was my real master. He stood there. His eyes widened before they narrowed. I looked at the two magicians. Who's this guy? Master glared at him. "Amir."

* * *

(sighs) I hate editing, but hey, I had to correct my grammar problems... and about everything else that was wrong. . The next chapter's gonna be better, guys!

'_Till then, R&R!_


	4. Amir

Princess of Magic 

By Anime2000

Geez, I've left you guys in such suspense that you don't care anymore! I wanted to improve my writing a little first before continuing! So yes, I'm updating this! Believe!

Disclaimer: And no, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!

_Nah,no more episodes from the anime in the rest of the trilogy. That was the fun of 'I Am the Dark Magician Girl'._

Besides, there'll plenty of Dueling, maybe not as elaborate—but still Dueling. Hope you don't mind... too much...

* * *

"Amir." 

The other Dark Magician gave him a supercilious smile. "It's been a while, hasn't it?" He paused, as if wonder if he should add on to that. "Brother." Even though I knew it was obvious, I gasped. He looked at me. "And who's this lovely lady?"

I looked around and pointed to myself. "Who? Me?"

He took my hand and planted a kiss on the back of it. "Of course. Who else would I be talking to? Him?" He held my hand in both of his and shifted his gaze at his brother.

"Whoa!" I yanked my hand back, blushing. "Listen—"

"Listen," Master said, walking in between Amir and myself. "This is my apprentice, the Dark Magician Girl." He sent him a warning glare. "So stay away from her."

Amir smirked. Time seemed to slow down to a complete stop as he walked past Master. I could feel the tension in the air as they swapped icy stares with each other. Sibling rivalry? I couldn't help thinking about that. Long after Amir had left. There was something weird about him. His arrogance, maybe? Is that what Master hated about him?

The sun's golden rays warmed me as Master and I took our seats with the spectators in the second row. It was actually a better way to observe the Duels. Master had watched me as a part of the audience and, after a few tips and reminders, congratulated me on my first victory.

Mystical Elf was sitting right next to me. "Great Duel, Dark Magician Girl!" she said, smiling and clasping her hands together. "I hope you do that well in all of them!"

"Amateur!" I turned around to face the Magician of Black Chaos. "Using the element of surprise wasn't a bad idea. Ra, the entire Duel was a surprise! I'm amazed you're not dead yet! But you should've used the boxes WITH the swords." He poked me in the forehead. "Common sense?"

"I didn't want anyone to get hurt! Or killed!" I retorted, slapping his hand away and then folding my arms across my chest. "But you probably—"

Mystical Elf nudged me. With a little difficulty, I turned back around as the Witty Phantom announced the next Duel. "This should be an interesting match! Black Luster Soldier versus Gaia the Fierce Knight! We're expecting the best from you guys, so you'd better live up to our expectations, got it!"

"He's going to get himself in deep trouble someday if he keeps on making those remarks," Master said calmly as the two Warriors shook hands before separating to opposite sides of the arena, a few feet in front of their own Lifepoints.

"DUEL!"

Gaia made the first move. He charged forward on his purple steed with both lances ready to strike. The Black Luster Soldier stood his ground with his sword raised in front of him in a defensive position.

Instead of attacking with both weapons at once like I had thought he would, Gaia divided that attack and tried to spear the soldier with one lance. Black Luster Soldier blocked that with his sword, but he was too late to stop the other. Oh! He dodged it!

"Tch, he was better off taking that blow!" the Magician of Black Chaos declared as the lance slipped under his opponent's arm. I watched in awe as the Black Luster Soldier was tossed into the air. Gaia had both weapons held in an attacking position. "I think I watched him practice that before. If he doesn't get out of the way, he'll get slashed, if not run through..."

"Which one?" asked Mystical Elf. The falling Warrior grabbed one Gaia's lances and used it to push himself away before ripping it out of his hand and landing safely on the ground with two weapons. "Gaia or Black Luster Soldier?" She winced as he attacked Gaia from behind with both of them in rapid slashes. Gaia let out a groan and fell off his horse. "Oh."

I blinked. "He's got to be at least twenty feet away from us, but I could hear him perfectly as if I was actually in the Duel!"

Master stared at the battle in silence first before answering my question, "A spell's been put on the field so that the spectators can hear every word that's being said." He leaned over, clasped his hands together, and rested his head on them. "Apparently." Eh! Everything! I blushed. Am I the only one who finds that just a little disturbing? I remembered everything I had said to Black Magician in our Duel. Okay, so everyone knows how clueless I am of Dueling, huh? Erg, I turned even redder.

Luckily, no one noticed. The Magician of Black Chaos sighed in an annoyed way before grumbling, "That idiot soldier should've attacked his Lifepoints instead. He's got 3000 attack points, and won't have to worry about timing."

"I don't understand," said Mystical Elf with a perplexed look on her face.

I do! "Since most monsters in the tournament have an attack and defense that's less than 3000, they have to attack twice or more... But even the shortest amount of hesitation can make a huge difference, and that gives your opponent a chance to react. And since your back is turned, it makes you susceptible for an attack! Um, Black Luster Soldier's the exception, I guess!" Wow, I actually knew that!

But the Magician of Black Chaos ruined my moment. He pushed my helmet forward. "Duh."

"Hey!" I whirled around. The crowd gasped. I turned back around. "What happened? What'd I miss!"

"Gaia's horse just attacked Black Luster Soldier," said the pleased chaos magician behind me. Agh, he did that on purpose! The purple steed snorted and reared its front legs so that it was an impressive two feet higher than the blue-armored Warrior in front of it. Gaia had recovered from the double slash and was getting up as quickly as he could. "So I guess this Duel's over, and Gaia wins, eh Dark?"

Master didn't respond. I blinked and analyzed the picture in front of me before realizing what he meant. With his horse protecting him, he can attack Black Luster Soldier's Lifepoints directly! He was right next to it.

Without any hesitation, the Black Luster Soldier swung his sword at the beast blocking his way. Gaia ran in between them and held his remaining lance up sideways to rescue his horse. His body trembled at the force of the attack, but he stood his ground. The Black Luster Soldier quickly slashed down with the other lance. Gaia retaliated by twirling his own, knocking it out of his opponent's hand. He caught it and held them both in front of him defensively.

I sighed, "Not really..."

Black Luster Soldier was on the defensive now, but he was able to get between the knight and his Lifepoints. Gaia attacked ferociously, well deserving his title as the 'Fierce Knight'. Master frowned disapprovingly. "Gaia is only hurting himself even more. Look at how much blood he's lost. He's exhausted already. If he messes up even once, it'll make him very vulnerable."

"Mm hmm..." Gaia looks anything but vulnerable! He's throwing blow after blow in a perfect sequence. The ritual Warrior blocked every single attack, but was also tiring. Suddenly, he slashed at him, taking Gaia by surprise and knocking him off his feet. He did received a jab in the chest. His armor saved him.

While Gaia struggled to his feet, his trusty steed charged in between them and kicked at the attacker with its front legs. Gaia was seriously injured! The two lances that he held seemed to weigh his arms down when he finally stood up. With the rest of his strength, he hurled them at Black Luster Soldier who instinctively dodged them one by one. When he realized what had happened, he spun around and swore.

The audience cheered and started chanting 'Gaia' over and over. I stared as the Black Luster Soldier helped Gaia up and praised him for his win. Chuckling jovially, he slapped him on the back. Gaia froze and fell over, groaning. His horse kicked the defeated swordsman as he apologized to him repeatedly. It was actually a pretty funny scene. But how did Gaia...

The Magician of Black Chaos saw the look on my face and explained, "Those counted as two direct attacks. A last second resort, dummy."

"Oh!" I wish I didn't need everyone to explain everything to me, but I'd be completely lost!

Mystical Elf closed her eyes and sighed as the Witty Phantom announced the five-minute intermission. "And don't you dare go anywhere! Hey you!" he yelled at a random monster who was getting up. "Sit back down! Yeah, I'm talking to you! You heard me!" The very alarmed Magician of Faith immediately sat back down.

"This is intense! What are they going to do next year?"

The Magician of Black Chaos poked her in the back. "'Intense'? This is just the preliminary round! The best Duel is the finals. Between this and last years' champs! Like the grand finale of every tournament..."

"You mean last year's champion doesn't have to fight in any Duels?" I asked in disbelief. "That's not fair!"

"He proved himself the best last year. All he has to do is defeat this year's winner to defend his title."

"Ah," said Mystical Elf. "So it's a male! But the race last year; wasn't it a team effort?"

The Magician of Black Chaos cheerfully said, "Well, it was at first. But the end was a bunch of mini Duels between all of the finalists Dueling with only 500 Lifepoints each. It was crazy. It was every man for himself..." He grinned at the reminiscence and then started laughing. "Tch, it was chaotic."

Smiling elfishly, my blond friend said, "And that suits you so well!"

I was tempted to add my two cents, but I was more concerned about Master. He hadn't said anything since the Duel. His attention was more focused at the other side of the stadium. I looked towards the direction he was staring at, but only saw a Dark Magician...

Amir! He was sitting in the front row with his head resting on his hands like how Master was, except he was facing elsewhere in a daydreaming state. I wanted to say something, but unexpectedly, Amir leaned forwards over the bars that surrounded the actual battling arena. "Hey!" I immediately remembered what Master had said about the Dueling field as his voice made it all the way to us. No one seemed to have noticed. Eh, that might've been because a lot of monsters were using that spell to their advantage too. Master's eyes widened for a moment and he lifted his head a little from his hands. "Just wanted to wish you good luck!" Amir said with a grin. "'Cause you'll be needing it, Brother!"

He totally shouldn't have said that. "Ah..." If looks could kill, Amir would be dead... a lot sooner too. He waved at what seemed to be me before sitting back down. "Master?" I squeaked. There was this venomous aura that surrounded him. He held his staff so tightly that I was almost worried that it would snap. I don't think Mystical Elf and the Magician of Black Chaos noticed because they were arguing about female Spellcasters' rights.

"Just because I'm female doesn't mean I'm completely helpless!"

"It's your attack points, okay? Quit being so irritable!"

"All right, ladybugs and germs!" Mystical Elf started giggling childishly at the Witty Phantom's immature sentence. "Duel three in round one is about to begin! The Duel Monsters are Celtic Guardian versus the Dark Witch, Maya!"

The two shook hands. Once they were on separate sides of the field, Witty Phantom announced the beginning of the Duel. Maya started off with graceful leap into the air. Her dark wings allowed her to hover for a moment before diving in a deadly attack. Celtic Guardian parried her spear and made a slash at her. She stepped on his sword and nimbly jumped over and landed behind him. He whirled around and swung his blade, but she dodged it. At least he got her away from his Lifepoints! She winked and taunted, "Come on, Celty, you can do better than that!"

The elf turned red, and made a series of wild attacks. Maya leapt away from his sword in an elaborate, dance-like way.She's definitely gotten better since the last time we Dueled. Her movements are so fluidly perfect. All eyes were on her. This weird feeling I have better not be envy. The elfin warrior did manage to get closer and closer to her Lifepoints.

In a brief moment, he attacked twice, reducing them down to 200. Maya giggled and blocked the third swipe with her spear. "Hehe, nice try. I'll be serious now!" She sent him backwards with a swift kick. Before he had a chance to recover, she delivered another kick to his chest. She flew past him and dealt 1800 points of damage, decreasing his Lifepoints to 1200.

"Don't let her attack again!" Mystical Elf shrieked at the Celtic Guardian.

Celtic Guardian's sword sliced through the air. The blade nicked Maya's hand, causing her to drop her own weapon. She gave a startled cry and stared at him. For once, everyone looked at him instead of her. "Hmph, 'He baffles enemies with lightning-swift attacks'," said the Magician of Black Chaos in an amused way. "Never believed that until now."

"Too bad," said Celtic Guardian with a grin. "You were pretty close."

"You have no idea," she replied, pulling her fist back. He grabbed it before she could punch his Lifepoints.

"You'd be surprised." She let out a growl and spread out her wings to their full extent, knocking him over. He got back up quickly, but it was way too late.

"Beaten by a girl!" screeched the Witty Phantom gleefully. "Absolutely amazing! Great job, Elf! You just proved that you really suck!" Celtic Guardian turned even redder than before.

After that Duel, he for some reason came to us. "You did a great job!" said Mystical Elf with a sincere smile. "You got her Lifepoints down to 200!"

He gave her a weird smile. "Aw, are you kidding, Mystic? She was TOYING with me!"

"Oh," she shrugged. "You did well anyways. Are you going to sit with us?"

"Sorry, my brother's in the next Duel, and I have to find him." He looked at Master. "Oh yeah, he's Dueling you, Dark Magician! I'd better go talk to him. Seeya!"

"Oh?" asked the Magician of Black Chaos with a mischievous grin. "'Mystic', eh?"

"Excuse me, but I think I've heard you call me that too!" she snapped, turning an interesting shade of pink.

"Yeah, but did ya hear how he said it?"

Master stood up to leave. I jumped up. "I'll come too!" He looked at me quizzically. "Um... I wanna wish you good luck!" I said the first thing that came to mind.

The Magician of Black Chaos rolled his eyes. I glared at him, but didn't say anything. Mystical Elf waved at me. "Okay... Later."

It was quiet as we walked inside. Eerily quiet. Attempting to break the silence, I tried, "Do you wonder why the Dueling arena and the audience have to be outside, but the path connecting them's inside?" No reply. "Um, so are you sure it's gonna rain today?" Nothing. Sighing exasperatedly, I said softly, "It's Amir, isn't it?"

Before he could as me why, I continued, "Ever since you saw him, you've been acting really distant," I said, looking at the tiles on the ceiling. "I know you can be like this because that's the kind of person you are, but you're barely even talking!" My voice was cracking. My throat started hurting. Geez... "It's like... it's like you're back to..." I didn't really know how to say it. But he knew what I was talking about. He was silent and cold before the Duel between Yugi and Arkana. That changed him. I don't know how, but that sort of changed me too. "So, am I jumping to conclusions, or... are you...?" I smiled at him. Even though I wasn't looking at myself, I knew it looked desperate and forced. He stared ahead and didn't even glance at me.

When we reached door to the arena, he stopped. Looking at me, he said, "So... Are you going to wish me good luck?"

Relief flooded in me and I grinned. "Nope!" I could've laughed at the expression on his face. "Yeah, I know that's what I said I'd do, but you don't need it!" Holding my index and middle fingers up in a 'V' shape, I said with conviction, "Giltia's a strong opponent, but I know you'll beat him, Master! You're the Dark Magician!" I couldn't think of anything else to say, so I started walking away backwards. "I'll be watching, so prove to me that my teacher's even stronger than he looks!" I spun around and ran down the hall.

Impossible. Amir was... waiting for me? No way! I ran past him, but froze when he said, "So why are you in such a hurry?"

I turned my head back a little. "My teacher's Dueling! If I were you, I'd want to watch too! It's a really good way learn your opponent's strategies." Ra, why am I helping him? He didn't take my advice anyways.

A smirk appeared on his face. "Is he really that good?" I nodded. "Then show me." He held his arms out as if inviting an attack. "If he's done any improving these past years, then I'm sure he's passed his skill down to you."

"Hey, I'm just his apprentice!" I objected, shaking my head slowly. "You can't use me as a substitute for him!"

"So he's not as good as you claim he is?"

"No!" I replied, getting more and more frustrated. "He's—he's..."

"A Duel will decide that," he said, twirling his staff in his fingers idly. "But if you don't think you're worthy enough to be the disciple of a Dark Magician, I'll understand."

I stared at him incredulously. "I might be a girl, but I still AM a Dark Magician!" I really shouldn't be shouting, but he was making me mad! Hm, I was starting to sound like Mystical Elf...

That smile on his face was really starting to get on my nerves. "So prove it. Duel as yourself, and let's see how much you've learned... If you've learned anything..." I couldn't control myself. Anger boiled inside me, demanding to be released. I attacked with a Dark Burning Attack. With a laugh, he leapt into the air and evaded it. "Not bad. Strong attack, but you shouldn't use so much energy on the first move! Especially if you miss."

Master had told me the same thing before, but I wasn't as annoyed with him as I was with Amir! "I know that!" I snapped, jumping after him. He blocked my wand easily. Gravity had started taking effect on us. He grinned and vanished before my eyes. "Ah?"

"Behind you." I didn't even get to turn all the way around! A powerful blast of dark magic blasted me to the ground sooner than I would've liked. "You panic too easily."

Furious with myself for letting my guard down, I got up hastily. "Hmph, Dark Burning Attack!" He dodged that attack and sped towards me. I swung my wand, letting loose another crescent wave of magic. He's gone! Again!

"Your attack form's wrong," he whispered in my ear. I spun around, executing another Dark Burning Attack. It missed him. "You should've moved your arm in a full circle. That increases your accuracy. Let me show you." I was sent flying backwards by a flare of dark magic and slammed into a wall. "You're not too bad, I guess." I couldn't get up as quickly as I wanted, but that didn't matter. He was already leaving. "You do need some improvement, though."

I stared at him as he walked down the hall. He was good; I didn't even get a single attack on him. His style of fighting was similar to Master's, but still completely different altogether. I noticed a thin crack in the stone wall that I had crashed into.

When I looked again, Amir was gone. Sinking back to the ground, I closed my fingers into a fist and smashed it against the wall. I am such an idiot.

* * *

I've been waiting forever to write this chapter! It's great to have time to write it down! Spring break!

_Amir is a strange guy. I'm not sure if I completely understand him..._

I was struggling when I came to his character. He's... kinda this, but kinda that. You'll understand as you read the later chapters. The same goes with a lot of the other characters, including Maya. R&R everyone and no flames! 


	5. Little Bits of Information

Princess of Magic 

By Anime2000

Arg! I wanted to get this chapter up a LOT sooner, but I never got time to even write it! 'Till now... I've had to do projects on Sherlock Holmes, Fiji, and schizophrenia! And then finals! Nng, the last few weeks of school are cruel! (breaks down but recovers uncannily quickly) Uh, yeah. Those are my only excuses. (looks around) Hi.

Oh! Looks like we've got a lot of Amir haters out there. Although, don't judge him so hard. As I've said, wait. He's not entirely a jerk... So those who like him, don't feel awkward!

_Anyways, Anime was looking through her Social Studies book... copying vocabulary words, and then she sees this word... She replaces the first letter with and 'a', and we have Amir! But if you know what it mean, shhhh! It's a little clue to the third part in the 'Magic Trilogy'. Don't tell! But we're not telling people to look it up though._

* * *

Idiot. It echoed in my head as I ran down the hall. I heard the word in several different voices. Mine. The Magician of Black Chaos'. Master's. Mystical Elf's. Dark Sage's. Maya's. Their reactions would be totally different from each other, but I didn't want to see any of them! I scowled. But it wasn't because I was mad at Amir. I was furious about what he said. "But if you don't think you're worthy enough to be the disciple of a Dark Magician..." He had absolutely no right to say that! I AM a Dark Magician! Just like Master, or him... Or even the Magician of Black Chaos! Just... a girl. And an apprentice...

Hmph.

And I probably missed Master's Duel too.

"And where have you been?"

"Celtic Guardian! ...Ah... What do you mean?" I asked staring quizzically at the cross elf. This wasn't the greeting I had been expecting when I got outside. Of course, I wasn't expecting one in the first place... "I just got... lost... y'know?"

"Oh, and during the Duel, I'm standing here and rooting my brother on, you're nowhere to be seen." Hey, does he mean that he didn't think it was fair that Giltia had support from him, but I wasn't cheering Master on? The swordsman stiffly sighed, "And Giltia's still losing!"

"Eh? You mean the Duel's still on?" I jumped up. Hey, there's Master and Giltia! I landed. And there they go. Geez, there's an entire crowd standing in front of me. It's probably because they couldn't find any seats. Once the Duels start, everyone's an opponent. Both for participants and viewers!

Agh, I was so much shorter than all of the Duel Monsters in front of me! There's a conspiracy going on; I know it! "How do you know what's going on?" I asked Celtic Guardian quickly. He wasn't that much taller than me.

He shrugged. "I just poke someone, and they tell me what's going on." I sighed. That's not enough for me. "Uh—hey! Where're you going?"

"Anywhere that gives me a better view!" I shouted back, already fighting my way through an animated crowd. They gasped and ducked. A flash of dark magic crackled above my head. I looked up, but it was already disappearing. Back on the arena, a violet mage glanced towards my direction for a brief second before sending another Dark Magic Attack after his opponent, who had dodged the first attack just in time.

The spectators rose, again blocking my view. I gave a frustrated sigh and tried to push my way to the front. Unfortunately, everyone pushed back. Harder. As I stumbled backwards, they grew really excited. The Duel's almost over! Out of desperation, I jumped onto a purple stallion to get away from the crowd and to get a better view. Gaia's horse snorted and reared its front legs in surprise, kicking a couple of Duel Monsters in front of me. "'Scuse me!" I apologized, wobbling and trying to regain my balance. The owner himself looked at me questioningly. "Uh... I can't see the Duel... Do you mind?" I asked with a sheepish grin.

Gaia turned his attention back to the Duel. "If it's fine with Saffron, it's fine with me." The horse snorted a little in annoyance, but didn't do anything else.

I ran my fingers through its wild golden mane and scratched behind its ears. "Thanks," I murmured before focusing back on the Duel.

Giltia's down to 500, but Master's still at 3000. The dark knight attacked with his staff. Master raised his own in defense and easily blocked it. I cheered along with half of the crowd. Giltia tried once again, but this time spreading his attack in a series of seemingly random blows. Hm, is this a tactic that Warriors use to wear down the opponent? If so, then it's not really doing much damage. Master was retreating, but he evaded all the attacks very smoothly.

In a blink of an eye, Giltia had activated a trap. Master gave an astonished grunt as chains wrapped tightly around him. Now where have I seen that trap before?

"Kunai with Chain," said the Fusion monster with a grin.

My teacher struggled a little before calmly replying, "I noticed." Giltia jumped up and swung his staff downwards at him.

"M-Master!" I screamed. He couldn't stop this attack when he was tied up like that!

Shadows shrouded the Dark Magician as he quickly muttered the words to an arcane spell. Even though I couldn't hear them, I knew exactly what he was doing. The dark veil solidified into a silk hat. Three more appeared near it right as Giltia sliced through that one.

Master leapt out of the one closest to Warrior's Lifepoints and crushed them to zero with one powerful Dark Magic Attack. "Magical Hats," said Master without much emotion.

Giltia frowned. "I... noticed." Sighing happily, I patted Saffron and hopped off.

The Witty Phantom snickered loudly. "Nicely done, but that was a little longer than necessary, hm, Dark Magician? Maybe you're losing your touch."

Master directed a cold look at him. "The rules state that contestants are not allowed to attack the judges or members of the audience... But it doesn't say anything about the announcer." The fiend took the hint and nodded nervously.

"Of course... Yes, well... Five minute intermission!" he said uncomfortably and continued nodding. Judge Man snorted and—Eh? Who's that? A man dressed in black and gold sat next to him. His head was tilted down just enough for his elaborate hat to cover his face. Is he sleeping?

As I squeezed my way through the crowd, I managed to turn around enough to yell, "By the way, congrats on your win, Gaia!" He smiled and gave me a thumbs-up. "Ah!" I bumped into someone! "Sorry!" I said and ran out of his way, trying to avoid his unnerving gaze. Looking back, I did notice something very interesting. Even though the man was equipped with a sword, he reminded me of a Dark Magician. I slowed down to admire his blue and gold armor. Dark Paladin. No doubt about it!

"Heheh, I wonder if that armor comes in my size?" I mused as I sprinted away. As I rounded a corner, I saw Master walking down the hall. Surrounded by a group of girls. Thinking quickly, I cast an invisibility spell on myself.

They hadn't noticed me, but I didn't know whether I felt relieved or not. I was just blinking rapidly, trying to discern the picture. They were obviously fangirls. The way the swooned over him. "That was an awesome win, Dark Magician!" "Congratulations, but I had no doubt in you whatsoever!" "You'll win this tournament with no problem!" Funny, those would've been the same things I would've said...

With an indifferent expression on his face, he coolly replied, "Thanks." He looked at me—no way. There's no way he could've seen me! I backed away a step and looked down at myself. I was invisible. "Ah... could you do me a favor?" he asked, not looking away.

"Of course," said a dark, elven spellcaster with a serious nod. The others copied her.

"My apprentice, Dark Magician Girl..." he said, finally turning his calm gaze to them. "Could you find her for me?" A cold alarm started from my heart and traveled through my veins. What was thinking!

They gave him a strange look, half annoyed, half surprised, I think. "Yeah, sure, no prob!" a pink-haired girl in a nurse uniform responded with a giggle. The female Duel Monsters scattered quickly in search of me. I backed up against the wall to avoid collision.

When Master was sure that they were gone, a small smile appeared on his face. The whole room seemed to warm up a little. Is it just me, or does he seem to act differently when he's with me? "Dark Magician Girl, I know you're here."

"Nnn, 'kay..." I dropped the spell and stared at my boots, wondering what else to say.

"Come on," he said as he strode past me. "Let's go before they find... you."

"Huh?—oh!" I grinned and realized why he had just told them to look for me. Chances are, they won't come confront him again until they've found me. Hehe, and we all know where I am, right? "Right!" Just as I turned around, I remembered, "Oh yeah! Awesome Duel, Master! The Magical Hats trick was the perfect way to end that Duel!"

"RA—Where were you?" the Magician of Black Chaos practically yelled at me when we got back to our seats. "And you," he turned to Master. "What took you so long? You two just missed the last Duel!"

"Say _what?_" I exclaimed, sitting down beside Mystical Elf. "How? It couldn't have ended so soon!"

"Soon! Dark Magician's Duel ended fifteen minutes ago. The last Duel only lasted seven minutes," he informed us and folded his arms in a haughty way. "Mysterious Puppeteer versus Battle Ox." I opened my mouth to ask who won. "Mysterious Puppeteer won, obviously. Just ta let you know, you don't wanna Duel him."

Hm, that doesn't exactly help. But I had a more important question on my mind. "Who's that?" I asked, pointing to the new guy sitting at the Judges' Table. He was toying with his scepter in a bored manner. It looked sharp...

"That's... the Chaos Command Magician," said Master who was sitting next to me. "A strong light magician with an attack of 2400 and a defense of 1900."

"'Light Magician'?" I asked, studying him carefully. "He looks like a Dark Magician to me..."

"He is," said Mystical Elf suddenly. "And so is the Magician's Valkyria. She's also a light spellcaster."

"Is he a judge? How many Dark Magicians are entering this tournament?" The Magician of Black Chaos thought about my questions for a moment.

"In a way," he said thoughtfully. "And there's a lotta us here. Uh... Chaos Command Magician over there. Three actual Dark Magicians. The awesome Magician of Black Chaos—"

"Dark Paladin," Master interrupted him. "Dark Sage is watching, but he's not Dueling this year. There's you, of course, the Dark Magician Girl." I beamed. Ha, I AM a Dark Magician, Amir, so there! "There are a couple more who aren't joining or even watching this year, but the Shadow Realm Games is the only time where so many Dark Magicians are seen at one place.

The greatest gathering of dark magic... That's a cool thought. "What about the Magician's Valkyria? Is there actually another female Dark Magician? What's she look like!" I asked eagerly. Master and the black chaos mage traded looks.

"Uh... Well, she wears blue and gold armor... kinda like Dark Paladin... She's got long, blond hair, and..." The Magician of Black Chaos started and then stopped abruptly and then snorted before bursting into laughter.

I gave him an annoyed look, but he was too busy laughing. Master nodded and added, "She's a brilliant mage with an admirable effect."

"Really?" He spoke of her so fondly. Trying to figure out what I could possibly say, I started stammering, "Um... So, what's she—"

"Duel five contestants are the Harpy Lady, Elly, and Kotodama," the Witty Phantom interrupted me. It was unintentional too! "OH, talk about a freaky pair!" Two Rose Whips hit their target. "YOW!" He looked behind him to see Elly's sisters; both were glaring at him with utmost contempt. "Eh heh... Hi ladies..." He turned back around and said, a little more meekly than normal, "Duel!"

Elly started the Duel off by lashing her Rose Whip out at Kotodama. He jumped backwards to avoid it and prepared for a counterattack. By then, Elly had already flown high above the ground, using the sun's light as a blinding shield.

With that advantage, she attacked with the Rose Whip again. As Kotodama raised an arm to protect himself, she swooped down and slashed at him with her claws. He took the cut without a word and stepped aside. Less than a second later, he was right behind her. I covered my eyes.

"Heh, guess you should never underestimate Kotodama, eh?" I heard the Magician of Black Chaos ask with a laughing tone.

Master replied sardonically, "We could say the same for Kuriboh, now can't we?"

I uncovered my eyes as Mystical Elf sighed, "I read somewhere that anyone who hears Kotodama's voice will be in extreme pain for days and then die..."

"Mystical Elf!" I whimpered, half angry, half scared. "Did you _have_ to tell me that!"

"Hm, sorry," she said with a guilty smile.

I looked at Elly. She looked more frustrated than pained. A bloody streak on both arms and falling feathers were proof that she had stopped and whirled around just in time to block that attack. "Okay, so maybe you're a little tougher than I had thought," she said in a low whisper, but everyone heard her. She didn't care. She continued, "But I can promise that you won't beat me. I want a rematch with a certain Duel Monster, and I won't be beaten until I get it!"

My gaze fell on Master. The last time she Dueled me was because she wanted a practice Duel before her rematch with him. This tournament would be the perfect setting for that Duel! It would be a perfect way to prove who was better, right? Both monsters would have fought with all they had in order to advance to the next round in hopes of claiming the title that would be given to the tournament champ.

Kotodama stayed silent, thankfully. Ignoring the pain in her arms that she must have felt, Elly rushed forward. Kotodama backed away as she swiped at him with her talons. It would've been a lot easier if he were just a little bit slower... Or if she had more help. "Hey," I said, frowning in uncertainty. "Couldn't she have her sisters help?"

Shaking her head, Mystical Elf said, "No. A new rule for this year that was announced by the Chaos Command Magician, after the last Duel, was that no one could accept help from the viewers."

"Besides," the Magician of Black Chaos scoffed, "she'd be a moron to try it. Kotodama's effect would send them all to the Graveyard. No monsters with the same name can exist on the field while he's there."

"But... her strongest attacks can only be used when she and her sisters are Dueling together!"

"And that, Apprentice, is her worst disadvantage," Master told me right after I had said that. "But she should be all right."

"You serious?" I asked hopefully.

The Magician of Black Chaos unexpectedly slung his arm around his neck. Grinning teasingly, he pointed as Master's face and asked, "Does this guy look like he's joking? Ever?"

I scratched my head and searched my brain for memories as Mystical Elf tried to suppress a laugh. "Well, maybe not all the time, but..."

A shriek pierced the friendly atmosphere, letting the tension from the Duel seep through to us. Our heads turned towards the Harpy Lady. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Master elbow the other magician hard in the chest and give him a scornful look. The Magician of Black Chaos' grin didn't fade, and he made a face at him before moving back to his original seat.

Elly wasn't doing very well. How could Kotodama be so strong? She just got forced back. The Cyber Shield armor she was wearing had, luckily, protected her from an even more serious injury. Now, she was struggling to even stand. Kotodama took that as his cue for a direct attack to her Lifepoints.

"Get up!" I don't know why I just got up and yelled at Elly like that. "You'll NEVER get that rematch if you don't stop him!" Her sisters were already trying to encourage her from the audience. "_Get up!_"

I know she heard me. Right before Kotodama could carry out a direct attack, she called out, "Mirror Wall!" A shimmering wall surrounded and protected her Lifepoints. On the surface was Kotodama's own reflection that he had attacked. As he looked at the shattered image in horror, Elly's Rose Whip wrapped around his arm. "That just cuts your attack power in half!" A familiar, confident smirk appeared on Elly's face. With a fierce yell, she flew up and yanked back as hard as she could. The Rose Whip released him right on time, sending him soaring backwards, resulting in a painful crash to the ground.

Elly wasted no time in diving down and delivering two direct attacks to his Lifepoints.

"That's it! It took long enough, but it's over!" The Witty Phantom said, nervously looking back at the two Harpy Ladies behind him. "Congratulation... haha... Nicely done..."

Breathing out a sigh of either relief or exhaustion, Elly smiled at them. "Yeah," she said watching the red-faced fiend squirm uneasily under her sisters' glares, "thanks, Sisters." Then she looked directly at me. "And Dark Magician Girl, I'm surprised you'd be cheering _me_ on."

"Uh... Well..." That took me by surprise.

"Especially since you're the one I want a rematch with," she said, walking inside. Wha—_me_? I opened my mouth, but I had nothing to say to that! Before the magic of the field spell wore off of her, she distinctly made her challenge very clear, "Hope you've improved since last time, Magical Girl. When we Duel, I'm gonna take you down."

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R&R, please! 


	6. Maze

Princess of Magic

By Anime2000

I forgot the disclaimer last chapter.Okay, okay. I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!. For this chapter: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!...

Well everyone... This will be the last update you'll see for the month of June—and possibly July. I know; I've procrastinated longer than that before. Anyways, I'm off on a tour to Russia, th Czech Republic, and Finland. I won't be able to bring my computer with me... So, I won't be able to write my fics for two weeks or so. But that's okay. I've just started a new fic. Although, it's not up yet. Well, I'll see you guysin... well... the end of the chapter, of course, but... agh, I can't of anything else to type! Proceed down to the fic while I bang my head a few times on my laptop!

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I'm late, I'm late, I'm late, I'm soooo late! My feet pounded against the marble floor of the palace. Breathing became amazingly hard to do. I blew a tuft of my brown hair out of my face. Just another day in Egypt for me. What's my excuse this time? Come on—think! I'm not usually this late!

I took couple more steps before collapsing onto my hands and knees. I'm here! "I... am so sorry..." I gasped, trying to catch my breath. That was a good reason for pausing every two seconds. It would give me a little more time to think. I couldn't tell him that I was exploring that new pyramid—that the pharaoh was building— with a couple of friends... He did specifically tell me not to go. If it weren't for my friend, I would've probably completely forgotten...

"Why?" I looked up at him in surprise.

"Master Mahaado—I'm late again, aren't I?"

"Mana, you're early."

That lying little...

"Oh, in that case," I laughed, trying to cover up my embarrassment and rage, "Um... I guess I made it." I got up and dusted off my pale clothes. I wonder how early I was. Maybe I could have squeezed in a few more minutes of exploring. I'll have to go back tomorrow if I get a chance. I wonder how my friends were doing. Probably laughing at me... Man, how could I have fallen for that one! "Hey..." A small book in his hands attracted my attention enough to make me forget my current feelings of anger and humiliation. He noticed my change and held the book in front of me. Looking at it hesitantly, I asked, "Is that... for me?"

"Right," he said with a nod. I accepted it and flipped through the pages.

"Um... they're blank," I told him, showing him the white pages as proof. The look on his face soon made me realize... "You... don't expect me to write in this, do you?" He nodded again. "But... what am I supposed to write?"

"Notes," said my teacher almost immediately, "mainly the things you'll forget right after I teach them to you." I felt my mind was as blank as the pages. He'll probably want me to review them during my own time. Aw man... "I won't check it, but I do expect you to write in it." I ran my finger across the cover and stared at it. So I could pretend like I'm writing, but actually not do any writing? A frown darkened my face, and I banished that thought instantly. No, that'd be dishonest...

I took in a deep breath even though I had already recovered from my run. Sighing, I said, "But that's no fun."

My master gave me an amused smile and lightly tapped me on the head. "Not everything in life is going to be fun, Mana."

I held the book to my chest and nodded in a weary way. "I know, I know," I admitted, running my fingers through my hair to straighten it. Being careless, I had forgotten my head ornament and knocked it off my head. "Ah!" I spun around and stretched out a tanned arm to retrieve it before it hit the ground.

It changed shape. I watched it in wonder, as it turned from gold, white, and a very dark blue to just blue and pink.

And I woke up.

My helmet was clutched tightly in my hand in front of me. I put it back on and glanced around me. Mystical Elf stared back at me, a strange smile was on her face. Master was looking at the Magician of Black Chaos, who had stood up.

Mystical Elf pulled me closer to her and whispered to me, "Did you know you mumble in your sleep?" I stared at her, horrified, as I remembered my dream.

"How much did you hear?" I hissed at her and glanced behind me at the two mages who were apparently trading Dueling tips with each other.

She shrugged. "Not much. Who's Mahaado?"

"Ehh... Who else do you think heard me?"

"I said mumble," she said with an airy wave of her hand. "You had your arms propped up on your knees and your face in your hands. I could barely make out what you were saying. I doubt too many others heard you."

My face was red; I knew it. I got up. "Whoa!" My legs felt weirdly numb. I wobbled a little but didn't fall down.

"You know, unlike some," the Magician of Black Chaos started and directed a look at Master, "I don't need to be escorted to my Duels."

"Who says I have to go with you?" I asked and crossed my arms. "I need to walk around. I've been asleep for..." I looked at Mystical Elf.

"The past three Duels," she offered. I was about to fall over from shock. I missed three Duels! Maybe if I'm lucky, I won't have to face those three winners.

Master stood up too. "I'll have to come too."

"What's the matter?" asked the Magician of Black Chaos, placing a hand around my shoulder. He winked at me. "Don't trust us together?" In response, I stomped on his foot. "Ow! Hey...!"

"No..." Master said shaking his head slowly. The expression on his face looked as if he was trying to suppress a laugh. "I just don't trust _you_."

"_Ouch_." I couldn't tell if that was the chaos mage's sarcastic reply to Master's comment, or if his foot still hurt from my reply.

I stretched my arms as we walked down the hall. Mystical Elf had, once again, decided not to come. That was okay, I guess, because she said she was saving our seats. The feeling had already returned to my legs. Yay!

"You seem awfully cheerful," the Magician of Black Chaos commented on my jovial attitude.

"Well what do you expect?" I snapped, but I kept a grin on my face. "I'm the Dark Magician Girl. AND life's too awesome to be depressed about it!" I mean, I'm remembering a lot from my past. I've got great friends, and I'm about to advance to the second round of the tournament! If I actually win, that'd be so cool! Maybe I would actually get a title, like Master or the Dark Sage! I wonder what it would be? Maybe—

He rolled his eyes. "Sure, believe what you wanna." Before he walked through the entrance to the arena, he turned to face me. "Hey, maybe next time, DMG."

"Just go to your Duel already!" I yelled at him, annoyed that he had completely ruined my daydream before I could even get into more detailed thoughts.

The Magician of Black Chaos looked at me, pretending to be offended. "What? Don't I get a good luck kiss?" I threw my wand at him. He laughed and ran.

"He's a strange guy to understand," Master said as the Witty Phantom announced the beginning of the Duel. I picked up my wand.

"Ha," I replied without thinking, "he can't be worse than Amir." Master was silent. Oops, maybe I shouldn't have said that... I frowned as we rounded a corner. "Ah—hey, let's get back to our seats already. He'll probably be mad if we miss his Duel," I said, trying to sound as lighthearted as possible.

He just stared in front with a slightly nervous look on his face. I blinked and looked forward. "Dark Magician Girl—"

"Oh my Gods, there she is!" squealed fangirl number one.

"Uh... I'll meet you by Mystical Elf?" I've been found.

"There they are," an Amazon said scornfully.

Instantly, he replied, "Agreed."

I ran back the way we came, and I'm assuming that Master headed for a different hallway. The good—and bad— things about this place were its hallways. It was like a maze... A labyrinth!

...Okay, who cares about that right now! I glanced back, only to regret it. Darn, most of them went after me! Hey, that hallway looks pretty dark! Maybe I could lose them there! Hoping for the best, I turned right.

I came to a complete halt. "You!" My eyes adjusted to the darkness quickly. He looked startled at first, but his expression soon changed to a sardonic grin. The fangirls behind me became unimportant for a second. Only for a second. I looked back again. They couldn't see me just yet. Maybe in a few moments... I gave a frustrated sigh.

I had turned right and had come to a complete halt to face the blue-armored Dark Magician. Amir looked at me for a long moment—that I really hadn't wanted to waste—before greeting me, "What's your hurry?"

Rushing past him, I managed to give him a glare and a warning before hiding behind one of the thick pillars that supported the ceiling, "Don't you dare tell them I'm here!"

He chuckled. "I can tell that you're in no position to make threats."

"..." I gave him a desperate look, complete with the doe eyes. "Please?"

The sound of their footsteps echoed in the hall. I ducked behind my hiding place just in time. "Where is she?" one of them asked. She was obviously tired. Who was she? I couldn't tell from her voice.

Amir, in a super-lax voice, replied, "Somewhere over there." He didn't, did he...? I couldn't see them. I didn't dare risk a look. As they ran closer to me, he called to them, "Hey, just out of curiosity, why are you after her?" They stopped. Amir was playing a dangerous game; if he couldn't get their attention to him just at the right time, then I would be discovered. Does he do this for fun!

"Dark Magician told us to find her for him," a high-pitched voice answered. And what did you guys plan to do with me before you turned me over to him? Do I sense a little hostility in your voice? My heart was pounding wildly. I wonder if they could hear it?

"Ah," Amir said sounding thoughtful, "and where did you find her?"

"With Dark... Magician." She faltered before it came out of her mouth. I tried to stifle a giggle. That sounded pretty dumb.

"I see," said Amir in an unusually gentle voice... which turned more satirical as he went on, "then, you knew that he had found her, but you went after her anyways?"

Silence.

"Right," he continued. "So, you're his biggest fans, right?"

"We prefer 'supporters'," one corrected him.

"Of course," the blonde Dark Magician replied in a light, amused tone. "Then I suggest you go pester him, instead of his student."

"'Pester'!" exclaimed several of them who sounded very offended.

"Sorry," Amir said, quickly, "is there some other term you would like to use?"

Man, he's good at creating melodramatic silences.

Footsteps. My muscles tensed as the sound came closer and closer to me. I almost sighed in relief—or was it exasperation?— when I saw Amir coming towards me. He was facing away from them. I guess he was trying to hide a huge smile on his face, the kind that threatens to break into laughter.

"Then, ladies," he said, whirling around in a slightly mocking bow, "I give you permission to annoy my brother to—"

'Don't overdo it! Don't overdo it!' I mouthed, waving my hands furiously in front of me. He straightened and gave me a quick glance before looking back at the group who was in front of him. Was. I heard them walk away; some were stomping.

When he was sure they were gone, he started laughing. "That had to have been the most fun I've had all day."

"Then, you've had a pretty boring day?" I asked, stepping out from behind the pillar.

"I'm not looking forward to my Duel either," he said, shaking his head, but he was grinning. "The first round is always easy... for me," he added the last two words when he looked at me. Before I could answer to that, he added, "Just wondering, but why didn't you use an invisibility spell?"

"Eh...?" That thought hadn't occurred to me for some weird reason. Even though I've already cast it before today, but why... why didn't I remember to...! Finally, I replied fiercely, "It just slipped from my mind..." I paused there.

"Because you were panicking?" he finished for me with a smirk. "As I've said before, you panic too easily. Now, what's this—the second time that I've had to save you today?"

I stared at him in confusion. "What do you mean 'second'?"

He blinked a couple of times and then said, "You probably heard a little voice inside your head during your own Duel with the Black Magician, am I right?"

"What do you—oh..." I couldn't stop gawking at him. He suddenly found the pillar that I had been hiding behind very interesting. "The Magic Cylinders... You... But... How..."

"'In magic, there's a hidden power in every item or living thing. There are many different ways to tap in to that power. But calling it's name when using it is the most effective. It doesn't always work, but it's faster than anything else,'" Amir said with nod. Then he faced me. "Admit it, I really did save you that time."

Another voice came to mind: Mystical Elf's. "But that's against the rules. The spectators can't help the contestants."

"That was announced _after_ the first Duel, so I'm okay." He bent forward a little so that our faces were about the same level. "Either ways, you won't tell, will you?"

I didn't back away. Frowning, I challenged, "Well how do you know?"

Now standing straight, with his arms crossed, he responded casually, "I saved you twice; you owe me that much."

"Hey, I didn't ask for your help!" I retorted, feeling my whole body go rigid with anger. "So I don't owe you anything!" He looked at me in an amazed sort of way. Then he snorted and gave my pink-rimmed visor a light tap that caused it to fall over my eyes. Surprised, I pushed it back up and glared directly into his icy, blue eyes. "Ah—wha—!" Amir's eyes were so much like Master's. Except they glinted with a sort of humor that Master's only had at rare occasions.

"You're cute when you try to act tough, you know that?" he said, walking a couple of steps past me.

"Wha—huh!" I felt myself blushing. "What does that have to do with anything!"

Amir didn't answer my question. Instead, he told me, "You might wanna get out of this hallway."

"Why's that?" I asked suspiciously. "Is this a trick?" ... Dummy, you don't ask him that, I mentally scolded myself.

"Of course not," he said without stopping, "but did you know these halls are haunted?"

"What?" I asked. My last encounter with a haunted house was when I was chasing after a Blue Eyes Toon Dragon... It wasn't fun. "You're kidding."

"If you wanna believe that." He was walking further and further away now. "I've heard rumor about this fiend that wanders around here. I forget what it's called, but it travels like a shadow." Looking back for a final time, he smiled. It was one of those smiles that made you nervous. "And then it attacks." The hall was dark, as I had hoped it would at first. But now... Amir vanished into the darkness. "Later."

Stand your ground, Dark Magician Girl. That's what I kept telling myself.

Tch, yeah. For two seconds. My shadow looks very suspicious right now...

I hate him.

I bolted after him. "Amir, wait!"

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Ahem. First, yes, the Dark Magician Girl has blond hair and green eyes—sometimes blue. But I've heard that Mana, DMG's Egyptian incarnation, had blue eyes and brown hair. But I can't find a picture of her from the anime.  
A lot of dialogue in this chapter, huh? Anyhoos, I'll see you guys in a couple of months or so. R&R, please! 


	7. Vanishing Act

Princess of Magic

By Anime2000

Disclaimer: Maybe... MAYBE... someday I'll own at least one of the characters of Yu-Gi-Oh!... Probably not. Don't own anything now anyways...

I'm back! And I appreciate theinfo from a certain wandering reader! Mana's hair was a little darker than I had thought.  
I noticed something... They took the asterisk out of my name. So, I'm Anime-2000 now.

I have done some brainstorming for my 'Magic Trilogy', at least. I've got a pretty good idea on how 'Princess of Magic' will end... But I'm not there yet, am I? I've been doing some thinking, and I've decided to post a few journal entries on my bio. I'll change it every time I update...

* * *

Was there someone behind me? I hear footsteps...! That_ aren't_ mine. Don't look back... Don't look back...

I breathed out a frustrated sigh. Amir was gone, but that's okay. I don't need him to always come to my rescue. But I'd like to know why he helped me out in the first place. Agh, you're slowing down—keep running! Geez, why's it getting so dark? I glanced through a grimy window as I ran past. It was hard to see, but the sky was turning a gloomy shade of gray. Doesn't look very good... The settings really didn't help my situation.

A hand—or was it?—grasped my shoulder. I froze. All the fear that had built up inside of me freed itself as one, shrill, terrified shriek. Spinning around, I whacked my pursuer with my wand in a Dark Burning Attack. The hand released my shoulder.

"Gah! Quit it! It's me!"

That voice... I stopped and stared at his face. It was hard to make out who it was because it was so dark in the hallway. Fortunately, we were standing in a patch of light created by a window. "Oh..." Cold relief sent shivers down my spine.

No, that was anger. I slapped him. "Were you trying to give me a heart attack? Don't sneak up on me like that!" I pulled my hand back for another slap.

The Magician of Black Chaos staggered back in alarm and waved a hand at me for me to stop. His other hand was pressed to the side of his face, where I had slapped him. _"Me?"_ He cried, giving me an accusing look. "You're the one who was wailing like a banshee! I'm surprised you didn't blow out my eardrums!"

"That's because you scared me!" I realized that I still had my wand in my hand, but I was way too agitated to concentrate on an attack. I'm not sure how I carried out that first attack. Was it was a reflex or something? "Don't ever do that again!" Now that all my anger was spent, I felt numb again. Eeeh, I don't think my heart could survive another shock like that.

"KYAA!" If that had been the case, then I really shouldn't have turned around.

"Dark Magician Girl, are you all right...?"

"Yo, Dark," the Magician of Black Chaos addressed my master. I heard him, but barely. My hand was pressed to my heart as I willed it to slow down a little. I breathed in a shaky breath and then let it out. Master was still giving me a concerned look.

"Dark Magician Girl..." he started, as if not sure what to say. I shook my head, waiting for the right words to form in my head.

"Um..." I blinked. "I think my heart just stopped...No, never mind. I'm okay..." Oh, well looks like I lived through that. A small laugh escaped from me when I thought that. I looked at Master. "Sorry."

He looked so confused and uncertain. It was so unnatural for him. I would've liked to take a picture of it, but it'll stay in my memory anyways. He nodded slowly and said, "Right..." Then, he regained his dignified composure, and he said with more authority, "I heard screaming. Someone tell me what happened."

"Nothing," the chaos magician and I said in unison almost immediately. I was embarrassed about actually believing what Amir had told me. What was worse was that I had attacked the Magician of Black Chaos because of it. I'm not sure what his excuse was, though.

Master raised and eyebrow and then rubbed his temples, illustrating the frustration and stress that was starting to form. "Perhaps I should rephrase what I just said," he murmured, lowering his hand and exposing an unsettling, frigid gaze. "I heard screaming. _No one leaves until_ someone tells me what happened."

I raised my hand and sheepishly told my part of the story. Not all of it, though. I left out specific parts... Like what Amir said before he 'warned' me about the fiend wandering the halls, and how he kept on saving me at the most crucial times.

"Amir..." said Master after I had finished. Even if his face didn't show anything, his voice betrayed his current feelings. Which seemed to have been a cross between annoyance and anger. "You met Amir again?"

"Yeah, but he wasn't that bad... Um... See, he saved me, and um..." I started saying everything that came to mind at the moment. "Agh..." I felt trapped. "Master... I..." I looked up and stared into his eyes as I had done to Amir a few minutes ago. "I know that you think I'm not as strong as you and that I always need your protection... That's what everyone thinks, and they're always trying to help. But I'm all right on my own. I can defend myself... You just have to trust me..."

He didn't look away. Instead, he stared back, his eyes full of understanding... and was that pride? I bit my lip and tried to control my emotions. "I know," he said softly. "And I'm proud of that. You're becoming a powerful magician quickly, but..." He closed his eyes, and his mouth curled into a small smile; it was as if he found the next thing he was going to say ridiculous. Almost funny. "Heh. But I still worry about you. Dark Magician Girl. You need to be more careful now..."

"Why?" I asked but was soon interrupted by a loud clatter behind me.

We both looked back to see the Magician of Black Chaos muttering a few swear words before bending down to retrieve his staff. He got back up quickly and checked it to make sure that it wasn't damaged. Then he looked at us. "Sorry, ignore me," he said with a look of genuine interest on his face. "Go on."

I glanced at Master and shrugged. Grinning, I said, "Let's go see the next Duel!" I started running, but I stopped when Master didn't follow. "Uh... aren't we?"

He nodded and slowly walked towards me. "Perfect moments are always ruined by the most absurd things..." He looked back at the Magician of Black Chaos who came after us and added, "or people."

"What?" demanded the ritual mage with his usual genial smile as he walked in between us. "You're not gonna leave me at a cliffhanger, are you?" He suddenly smacked his right fist into his left palm. "Hey, did you two see my Duel?"

"No."

"Sorry," I said and patted him on the back. "But you did great...! Right?"

"You **did** win," Master said without even looking at him, "didn't you?"

The Magician of Black Chaos gave him a sardonic look. "No duh. Of course I won. I'm beginning to wonder if your intelligence is deteriorating or something."

Looking at me, Master said, "That had to have been the most complex sentence he's ever said."

I giggled and nudged the insulted chaos magician. "See? He can joke around!"

Master blinked. "I wasn't joking..."

Mystical Elf waved at us. With a distressed look, she gestured to the Old Vindictive Magician sitting next to her. "I tried to tell him that Dark Magician Girl was sitting here, but... he wouldn't listen..." She frowned and tapped him on the shoulder. "Um... Sir...?"

He merely grunted and resumed watching the Amazon Archer and Jowgen, the Spiritualist enter the arena. I scanned around the stadium, but I didn't find any empty spots. Maybe if I get a closer look... "That's okay," I said to Mystical Elf. "I'll go look around. Maybe there'll be an empty seat somewhere!" I think Master was about to say something, but he must have remembered what I said in the halls. "I'll be back before round two starts!"

I only got a few glances of the Duel. Which was a little disappointing, to be honest... Jowgen barely put up a fight. The Amazon Archer ended up pinning him against the wall by his robes with her arrows. And that resulted in her victory.

By then, I had already circled around the entire stadium, but I couldn't find anywhere to sit... I need a break. I'm getting tired.

"Check."

Why is it that everywhere I go, he's always nearby! I looked around and finally found him.

It was chess. Amir was currently winning. "And look, you left your queen unguarded too," he said to the monster who he was playing against. It seemed to be a Beast...and a Warrior. A Beast-Warrior, duh. Maybe I should refer to it as a he...? He had a powerfully muscular build under his cobalt skin. His one, amber eye slightly twitched as he tried to figure out his next move and what Amir's strategy was. There were gilded weapons strapped on his back...

I wonder where they got the chessboard?

"Shut up," the blue monster growled and picked up his bishop. He moved it diagonally to the right, unavoidably knocking over a few other pieces with his huge hand and stopped it in front of his king, protecting it. "Your turn." His voice was so low. And It sounded like his words were stumbling over his large, uneven teeth.

Amir stared at the board for a few seconds before making his move. He moved a black knight up in an 'L' shape. "Checkmate," he said and placed a few pawns and a queen, which the brawny Monster had knocked over in his last turn, back to their rightful positions. "Too bad, Sengenjin," he said, earning him a one-eyed glare. With a roar, Sengenjin flipped the board over with notable strength. "Hey!" Amir snapped, shielding his eyes from the flying chess pieces.

I sweatdropped. Turning around, I mumbled, "Well, I can't sit there anyways."

Something hit the back of my head and fell to the ground with a light 'chink'. I looked back and saw Amir grinning at me. "Hi," he said tossing the winning knight into the air and catching it. "Can you get that for me?" I picked up the rook that had bounced off my helmet and threw it at him with a flick of my wrist. It went over his head, but he raised his arm and plucked it out of midair. "Thanks."

"Uh... are there any available seats?" Did I have to ask him? Eh, too late to unsay it now.

"Not really—"

"Last Duel contestants! Get down here! We don't have all day!" yelled the red-faced announcer. "Amir and Cliff! You'd better be on the field in one minute or else you're both disqualified!"

He got up. "Hey, can I sit—"

"No," he cut me off abruptly and walked past me.

"You can have your seat back when your Duel's over. I just need a break," I told him, but he looked back. He seemed really anxious. Should I just let him leave? He'd probably be so mad at me if I made him miss his Duel... But then again, I wouldn't really care...

"It's not that," he said, looking past me at Sengenjin. "You don't understand, but..."

"Then why does it matter?" I asked, exasperated. "You're just like Master! Just because I'm not as experienced as you, doesn't mean I can't take care of myself!"

"Are you comparing me to him?" Before I could respond, Amir took one of my stray blonde locks and pulled me a little closer. I was about to protest, but he spoke first, "Forget that for now. Just..." he whispered, directing his eyes towards the aforementioned Beast-Warrior, "don't talk to him, all right?" He let go and started to walk away. "Promise me that."

I sat down and watched him leave. I really, _really _wanted to make a face at him. Why do I have to promise him... But... "Fine."

"This is the 12th and final Duel in the first round!" The Witty Phantom practically screamed into the microphone. The redheaded girl sitting behind him yanked it out of his hands to finish the rest of it for him.

"The Dark Magician, Amir, will Duel against Cliff, the Trap Remover!" announced the Unhappy Maiden "Same rules, same Dueling field. Play fairly. Duel!" What was funny was that she hadn't given them a chance to retreat back to their own side of the Dueling field; right after they shook hands, the attacks began. She gave the three men in front of her an embarrassed smile and blushed. "Was I supposed to wait a little longer before starting the Duel?" The Chaos Command Magician shrugged and resumed toying with his scepter. The Judge Man assured her that it was all right and punched the Witty Phantom when he disagreed.

Both Duelists didn't hesitate. At all. Cliff was armed with a dagger, but Amir was agile enough to dodge every swipe. Really easily. I bit my bottom lip. Master could still beat him; I know he could. But now that I think about it, they're pretty evenly matched.

Cliff jabbed the dagger at the blonde Dark Magician. Amir sidestepped the stab and pointed his staff at him. A smirk appeared on his face.

The Dark Magic Attack brushed against Cliff's neck, leaving a painful looking burn. He laughed. "What was that!" he asked Amir, who had lowered his staff.

"You missed!" The Witty Phantom bellowed at him after wrestling the microphone away from the Unhappy Maiden. "What kind of aiming was _that_!"

Amir calmly explained, "Well, it depends on what I was aiming for. Him..." He looked at his opponent. "Or his Lifepoints." The timing was perfect. The second after he finished, Cliff's Lifepoints exploded and dropped to 500. Amir grinned, "I think that's a hit."

Recovering rapidly, Cliff lunged at him with the knife in hand. "You'll still lose!" he snarled at him, going for the kill.

"Don't bet on it." Two fancy boxes materialized around them, freezing both players in the same place. I gawked at them in disbelief. Amir wasn't going to... he wouldn't... would he?

The swords that impaled themselves in the box, that Amir was in, answered my question. The many Monsters in the audience who had never witnessed the Magical Boxes of Death act gasped in horror at what had just happened. I didn't care about Amir. If he performed the spell correctly, then he would be fine. But Cliff is the guy everyone should have been worrying about.

Sure enough, the three question marks, the doors, to the unharmed box opened one at a time. Out stepped Amir. Without looking, he fired another Dark Magic Attack at his opponent's Lifepoints. Once again, his aim was true.

Now he directed his attention to the two boxes beside him. He closed all the doors to the box that he had just stepped out of. It stayed there. Then he tapped the skewered box three times with his staff. All three doors opened.

Even though it really didn't help that much, I leaned forward to get a closer look. Oh! How...? That's not possible! There was no one in that box! What did he do? Was there another trick to the Magical Boxes?

When Amir had made sure that no one was in there, he gave the box a tap again, and it disappeared. Then he walked over to the remaining box and opened all the doors.

A very dazed Trap Remover stumbled out. I was too stunned to say anything. I've never seen Master do something like that before! Well, maybe that was because he was Dueling with Yami or Yugi. Amir gave the box a tap, and it vanished as well.

Amir walked over to Cliff and pulled him to his feet. "Hey. You okay?" Cliff stared at him with huge, glassy eyes. Then he pushed him away and ran back inside, his mouth opened in a silent scream. "Um..." Amir rested his staff on his shoulder and gave the man a bewildered look. "Yeah... Good game to you too." I think my expression was very close to Amir's. How could he expect a normal answer from a person who had just stared death in the eye?

The crowd erupted into cheers.

Sengenjin guffawed, "Better than thought." It was hard, but I managed to make out what he said over the roar of the audience. "Still... Is second-rate to Sengenjin." I glanced back at him and then returned my gaze to the field. Amir was already inside.

"Uh..." That was my only response to that. I've just realized something. If he could have pulled something like this off, then I wonder what he might have done if our Duel had been prolonged a little longer... I frowned and came to an evident conclusion: I don't to have a rematch with him.

"Blonde girl." I turned my head a little so that I could see the Beast- Warrior.

"Wha—"I stopped. I remembered my promise. But why didn't he want me to talk to him?

"Yeah. You... You a Dark Magician?" It was obvious, wasn't it?

I didn't get a chance to reply.

A tall, slender shadow fell on me. I looked at the caster in surprise. It was Amir. Except... the smile on his face was gone. He looked cold and intimidating. Like Master did when he Dueled. Even his eyes became dark and stormy. He grabbed my arm, pulled me to my feet, and led me a few feet away from where I had been sitting. "Do you remember what I told you?" he asked me in a low, menacingly cool voice. It was very quiet.

This was weird. Why was he acting this way? "I didn't talk to him!" I responded, wondering if I sounded as calm as I was trying to. "He just asked me if I was a Dark Magician or not. I didn't answer him." Then I gave him a suspicious look. "Why do you care so much?"

"I'll tell you later," was his answer. He released my arm and said, "If I feel like it. Right now, just leave." I wanted to ask what was going on, but his attention suddenly shifted to Sengenjin, who was staring at a bird that was flying by. "Apparently, he's the one this time..." Amir murmured with one of those mysterious smiles that drove you crazy, because you couldn't understand what he found so funny. At least his expression softened. He could look really scary if he wanted to. Hm, but then again, so could all Dark Magicians. That I've seen so far. I frowned and started to walk away. "Hey, Dark Magician Girl." I looked back.

"What?"

Amir placed an index finger on my forehead and gave me a gentle push. "You need to be more careful now."

* * *

Yep, I had the first part of it written down before I left. Then I came back and wrote the rest. And then I got a big idea, so I practically rewrote it. Then I had another idea, so I edited it again. Geez, I'm beginning to wonder if it was worth the trouble! And if would fit in with the rest of the story... Oh well... Only time, and some serious rechecking, will tell.  
Well, R&R! And no flames! 


	8. A Close Call

Princess of Magic

By Anime2000

Disclaimer: I shall laugh in your face if you say I owned Yu-Gi-Oh!... Go on, say it! I need a good laugh...

Myeg! All my replies to my reviewers are gone! -.-;

* * *

I guess I'm left standing, huh? With one last questioning look at Amir, I continued my quest for an empty seat. Ah, maybe I'm exaggerating a little...

My wand squirmed in my hand. "Not now," I muttered, holding it up to my face. It shook angrily. Like it was screaming at me, but the words couldn't reach my ears. "No," I said firmly, now grasping it with two hands. Monsters around me watched me curiously. This was kinda embarrassing. Wrenching itself from my grip, it flew. "Come back!" I raced after it, almost tripping over a few little kids running around.

I was so wrong to think that my wand wouldn't act up today. Well, at least not too badly. So wrong. "Stop! Slow down!" A man dressed completely in white suit stood a few feet in front of me. Was he going to a formal party? I swerved to the side, narrowly avoiding him, and kept on running. "What are you—crazy!" No! I'm just trying to get back my wand!

"Huh!" "Cyber Soldier, head's up!" "Ow!" That crazy wand. It knocked down anyone, or thing, that was in its way. Where was it going?

Oh no. The next victim of the runaway wand would probably kill for me this. "Mister—uh... Dark Paladin, watch out!" The magical swordsman slowly turned his head to face his right. "Dark Paladin!"

At the last possible second, his arm shot up. His dark-gloved fingers clasped around the blue-pink rod, trapping it with an unyielding hold. It wriggled around, but he repressed it with a glare. And then, it finally gave in and became still.

I slowed down and stopped beside him. He looked at me in an evaluating way. I allowed myself an earnestly apologetic grin. "Ah... Nice catch." I think he was through judging me. I frowned inwardly. My first and second impressions weren't very good.

Something came spinning at me. I let out a surprised cry and instinctively held my hands up. It hit my palms with amazing force that threatened to knock me down backwards. I'm not sure what happened, but I realized that I now held my wand in my hands. I stared at Dark Paladin. Did he just throw it back at me? He barely even moved!

"Round two has begun! Gaia, the Fierce Knight and Mysterious Puppeteer, report to the arena for Duel one of round two. Repeat..." The Unhappy Maiden had the microphone now. The Witty Phantom had taken off his hat and was staring at it dejectedly.

"'Round two,'" I echoed and redirected my gaze to Dark Paladin. "Dark Paladin?" He didn't show any signs of response, but I'm pretty sure he heard me. So I went on, "Did you already Duel?"

His reply was very slow. I was beginning to wonder if he could even talk. He just stood there with his arms on the wooden fence that surrounded the arena, calmly staring at the battlefield. At last, he finally said, "I'm not Dueling."

"Why?" I asked, joining him and leaning against the rough planks too. "I just heard..."

"I'm not Dueling."

He wasn't very descriptive... "Why not?"

"Why?" I didn't see that one coming... "But if you must know, I've maintained the title for three years in a row. This entire tournament seems so dull now..."

'Dull'? "Oh... Wow!" I said, a little more enthusiastically. "I wish I was that good! I barely made it past the first round. Being the Duelist, as well as the Duel Monster, is kinda hard for me." I did get some practice when I was Dueling with Tea, though. "So, are you last year's champion?" He didn't say anything. Geez... I just turned my attention to the Duel. The Mysterious Puppeteer, huh? The Magician of Black Chaos said he was a tough opponent, but he only has 1000 attack points. Well, let's just see what happens in this Duel.

Gaia had recovered quickly. Or at least, that's how it seemed. One jab after another, simultaneously and quickly. Looks like he's back to normal! The Mysterious Puppeteer waved his hands in front of himself, like he was defending himself...

Or casting some sort of net. Saffron came to a complete stop and snorted, pawing the ground anxiously. I looked at Dark Paladin to see if he would provide any information. He looked vaguely interested, but paid no attention to me. "Saffron, what's—!" The purple steed suddenly reared up on its hind legs. "Saffron!" Gaia could barely hold onto the reins. He had lost all control over the horse.

However, the Mysterious Puppeteer was in absolute control. I couldn't see any strings from his hands, but he was definitely the one behind the sudden rebellion of Gaia's most trusted partner. Saffron galloped around the arena and leapt from one spot to another abruptly. With a theatrical flourish of his arms, the Mysterious Puppeteer made Saffron do a strange twirl that no horse should ever be forced to do. Gaia fell. Saffron neighed unhappily, proving that its mind was still loyal to the knight. It dashed towards Gaia and stopped. Prodding Gaia with its nose, it whinnied softly.

I hate watching this. Even the Millennium Rod was more merciful. At least then, you weren't completely conscious—unless you were fighting the control with everything you had. You were just dazing off, oblivious to what was going on and what you were doing. At least, that's how it seemed.

The Mysterious Puppeteer waved a hand to the right. Saffron suddenly whirled around and kicked Gaia with his hind legs. The entire audience seemed to cringe at this spectacle. I know I did. Gaia still had both lances clenched tightly in his hands, but I knew he wouldn't attack his own horse. After all, it wasn't Saffron's fault.

His hand waved to the left, this time. Another kick. Right. And another one. I winced. "Isn't... Isn't anyone going to stop it!" I asked, looking around. Everyone seemed to be holding back, as if they were afraid of helping. "Hello?"

Dark Paladin blinked and turned his gaze to me. "Hm?" I can't believe it. This is hopeless! Here goes nothing...

I jumped over the fence. "Ah!" And, thankfully, landed on my feet.

"What are you doing?"

"What's it look like?" I couldn't see his face, but I'm pretty sure that his expression had changed.

"You... crazy girl..." Yup. Wish I could see it, but I had more important things to do right now.

Before anyone—at all—could react, I jumped on the stallion's back. Déjà vu, huh? "Whoa!" I grabbed the reins and yanked hard. Saffron neighed. "Calm down!" Of course, it didn't. And besides, it was still being controlled! "Stop this Duel! NOW!" I yelled at the judges, who were too stunned to speak. Either that or they just didn't feel like talking.

The controller! Of course! I pulled on the reins enough to get Saffron to turn around just enough for me to see the Mysterious Puppeteer without seriously injuring my neck. "Release Saffron! Please!" He just stared at me with two, astonished, yellow eyes. Then, he must have gotten over the surprise because he grabbed something from the air and jerked back. Was he letting the control go?

Saffron staggered backwards and wobbled dangerously. "No..." I realized what was happening. He wasn't freeing us! His invisible strings had gotten tangled with Saffron's legs. If it fell... "No! Stop!" That was his purpose... I won't let him! "Dark Burning Attack!"

The crescent of dark magic cut the strings and hit my target. "Look—you've already won! Enough is enough—Agh!" Saffron was really spooked. And unfortunately, my illuminating attack didn't exactly help! I hope I didn't blind it! "Ah! Wait—stop!" I cried as Saffron thrashed around, neighing in confusion and fear. It was much worse than last time. "It's all right!" Saffron galloped wildly around. I was thrown off.

"Oof!" I landed. Or crashed. Whichever sounded good. I groaned. Which was none. I propped myself up on my elbows. Saffron ran towards me, shaking its head madly, as if it was trying to get something off of it. Come on, move Dark Magician Girl! I was screaming at myself mentally, but... "Nngh..." My body refused to do what my mind told it to do. I closed my eyes. Oh Ra, I'm gonna get trampled!

The sound of hooves against the ground came to a stop. I didn't feel any more pain than I already did. What just... happened...? I opened my eyes. "Oh...!" This was an unexpected sight! Where did he come from? "Master!"

Snorting angrily, Saffron bucked and jerked away from him. Master yanked hard on the reins, pulling the horse's head within a reachable distance. He placed at hand on its purple brow and murmured a few soft words to it. With a little uncertainty, Saffron snorted indignantly and finally stood still. Did he use a spell to calm it down? He looked at me. The temperature fell drastically. No, I think he... glared at me.

"This was uncalled for!" The Witty Phantom suddenly yelled. He didn't even need a microphone to be heard. "And against the rules!"

"Gaia is unconscious," Master said frostily. "Which means the Duel has already ended in the Mysterious Puppeteer's victory."

At last, the Chaos Command Magician spoke, "My exact words were 'No one may accept any help until the Duel ends.' Therefore, no rules were violated. However, Gaia was in no condition to reject or accept any assistance anyways," he said with a slightly grim smile.

"So... no rules were broken?" asked the Unhappy Maiden, sounding relieved.

"None that results in punishment," stated the magician. "Clear the arena for the next Duel."

Master pulled on the reins lightly and led Saffron inside. "Dark Magician Girl, help Gaia. I'll take care of the horse."

"Yes, Master."

"So, are you gonna be all right?" I asked Gaia after we went in. I have to hand it to Gaia for making all these speedy recoveries. It looked like he was okay, but he could be just hiding his suffering. It might sound kind of selfish, but I wouldn't want to be him.

Gaia patted Saffron fondly and smiled. "Fine. Just a bruised pride. You should worry more about yourself, you know?"

I scratched his purple horse behind the ear. "Sorry 'bout scaring you like that. I didn't know what else to do!" It nipped me on the shoulder. "Ow!" It hadn't drawn any blood, but that hurt! I sighed. "Well, I guess I deserved that, huh?"

"Nah," Gaia said, tugging gently at its ears. "That's just Saffron's way of forgiving you. Let's go, boy." Saffron followed. "Thanks, Dark Magician," he said to Master as he walked past him. Master acknowledged with him a small nod. "And your apprentice, too."

"Um... yeah." I forced a smile. "No problem."

When Gaia left, it felt like eternity before either of us moved. Finally, Master walked away. I ran after him. "Wait! Master!" He didn't even slow down, like he would've usually done. "Master! I... You..." It was me who gave up the chase. "You're mad at me, aren't you?"

He stopped and looked back at me. "'Mad'?" he asked, staring at me in the same way he did on the Dueling field. "I'm not sure if that even comes close to describing how I feel right now." I turned my gaze to the floor. There was no way I could face him. Not now, at least. "What were you thinking? _Were_ you even thinking? You could have lost your chance at Dueling in the tournament."

"Yes, Master," I said, knowing that the worse was yet to come.

"You said you would be back by the second round."

"Yes, Master."

"You caused such anarchy. It was unnecessary!"

"Yes, Master."

"You could have gotten hurt!"

"Yes, Master."

"You could have gotten _killed_!"

"Yes, Master."

"I take my eyes off you for one moment, and _this_ is what happens!"

I flinched. He was yelling now. "Yes..." The word wouldn't come out. I couldn't take it anymore: the barrage of harsh words that were being flung on me. And he didn't even listen to me. "No," I said, looking up with my own glare. "No! I did it because I couldn't watch it anymore. And I couldn't turn away, either!" I didn't give him a chance to speak. I went on, "If I hadn't stopped that puppeteer, I know I would've regretted it for my entire life! I mean, how can you just sit there and watch as someone that you talked to earlier today was getting hurt? Or killed!" Tears were welling up in my eyes. I didn't want him to see me cry. I held them back for one more second to yell, "At least I have a conscience! At least I did something, when others wouldn't because they were afraid of losing their chance at that stupid title!" I stared at him just long enough to see the look on his face. I regretted my outburst instantly.

I turned around and ran. "Dark Magician Girl, stop!"

No way. My vision was completely blurred by tears. I didn't care anymore. I just wanted to get away. These dark halls seemed so welcoming. I felt I could hide in them forever. And I probably could.

I don't know how long I ran. Or where I was. All I knew was that I was a good distance away from Master. And that I was done crying.

Breathing out a long sigh, I wondered what I was going to do. I wasn't going to face Master just yet. And not Mystical Elf or the Magician of Black Chaos before him. Not that I could. From one glance, I knew that I was utterly lost. I leaned against the wall and looked at the jewels that were embedded in my boots. Well, that was fine with me. I wish I could just be by myself... or at least someone who was really understanding.

A strange, hollow cone fell on my head. "Heh?" I felt it and recognized the familiar contours of my helmet. Ee! I didn't realize that I had dropped it. But where? On the field? In the halls? And who found it? I looked up. And backed away. Then I remembered that I was already against the wall. "Um..." How did he find me so quickly? Did he follow me? "Hi... Master..."

"Dark Magician Girl—"

"Listen, I'm... sorry," I blurted out, tapping my knuckles together lightly. "I just... Well, I was just...uh..."

"...Being yourself?"

"Yeah!" I exclaimed. Then I blushed. "Hmm... I mean... Heh, yeah... I guess I'm just being my crazy self, huh? Sorry..." I said, adjusting my helmet. It gave me something to do. "And well..."

He leaned forward and pulled my visor up. "Stop hiding behind that thing, already, will you?" I looked up at him, surprised. "I shouldn't have yelled at you back there." Now that was random. But...

I smiled and shook my head. "Master, it's fine. I mean, everyone—"

He placed a finger on my lips. He was closer now. "_I'm_ sorry." His eyes bore his usual calm and serious gaze. But this time, there was something about them that made me want to get a closer look. Something inviting; warm. I bent a little nearer to him, wondering whether I should or not... Closer... Closer...

Suddenly, he pulled away and looked around cautiously. While he did that, I think I went through twelve different shades of red. "Strange..." I pulled my visor back down, covering my burning face again. "Can you feel it?"

Faint vibrations ran through my body.

"Yeah..." I frowned. "The ground's shaking." The floor shuddered. The quivers grew more violent. They were accompanied by low, rumbling sounds. Like thunder. "Master, is it raining now?"

He shook his head, his eyes narrowed uneasily. "Not yet..."

"Sengenjin sense two Dark Magician," a deep growl echoed across the hall. My eyes widened. I could feel the color from my face draining rapidly. The hulking, blue beast was plodding towards us. What was he doing here? What did he want with us? A million questions were begging to be asked, but now was not the time.

"It's him!" I managed to whisper. "We gotta hide!"

"You've met him before?" asked Master as he pulled me behind the nearest pillar. These things are great hiding places!

"Uh..." Master wrapped his arms protectively around me. I reddened again, but he was paying more attention to Sengenjin, who was approaching slowly. He seemed to examine everything closely before passing. Maybe he was smarter than I had given him credit for. If he found us, then I don't know what would happen. "Yeah, he was playing chess with Amir—"

"Chess?" Master looked at me incredulously. Then he gave an exasperated sigh, "He finds the oddest ways of locating them--" Locating who! How come no one tells me what's going on!

"Sengenjin find you!" Sengenjin loomed over us. Did he see/hear us? He let out a howl and smashed his fist into the pillar. Master ducked and held me closely as rubble and pieces of marble flew in every direction. I buried my face in a nook in his armor. A scream was desperately trying to escape, but I choked it back, wondering if I would live through this. "Sengenjin find you! You wait! Sengenjin know you here!"

I couldn't see anything, but it sounded like he was smashing everything that was in his way. When he was sure that Sengenjin was gone, Master lifted some of the debris off of us. "Psychopathic buffoon," he blew a strand of light purple hair out of his face.

I felt him dust some white powdery remains of the wreckage from my hair. "I'm okay," I said quietly before he could ask. "Are you?"

"Surprisingly, yes." He nodded and looked at me skeptically. "Are you sure you're fine?" I realized that I was trembling. All right, maybe I didn't look okay, but I was just shaken... That's all.

Time to change the subject. "Why—why'd he want to kill us?"

The walls groaned. Master surveyed the damage that the Monster had caused. "Clever." I looked at him questioningly. "He..." An expression of disbelief was on his face. "He... _demolished_ the pillars that were supporting the roof."

It was my turn to stare at the scene doubtfully. But the entire hall was lined with white stumps and what used to be columns of marble. "Oh Ra, no."

And the ceiling came crashing down.

* * *

Hm, since Amir has been hogging all the limelight, I figured that it should be Dark Magician's turn, y'know?  
Welp, R&R, please everyone! 


	9. Escape Trick

Princess of Magic

By Anime2000

Disclaimer: Well, it all started a few years or so ago... actually... in the 1990s. A Japanese man name Kazuki Takahashi started drawing the first season of a manga called Yu-Gi-Oh!. Long story short, I don't own Yu-Gi- Oh!. Heck, I have trouble drawing Yami Yugi's hair!

Sorry for the slightly later-than-planned update. I just started using my new DeviantArt account. It's taken up some time, but I'm finally on track! If anyone's interested, my account is in my bio.

* * *

While the hall caved in, a rectangular box appeared out of nowhere in a different hallway.

Luckily, we were in it.

It was quiet. And really, _really_ dark. I looked around frantically. The Magical Box wasn't my idea, so Master probably summoned it. But where did he go? "Master? Where are you?" I took a step forward. "Whoa! Never mind," I said as I bumped into him. Now, to look for the exit. "Ow!" I had turned around, but I kinda walked into the side. Geez, the box seems smaller than last time. I didn't mind stating that out loud.

"Really?" came Master's reply. I could tell that he was smiling. "Now, do you mind...?"

I shook my head. Then, I realized that he obviously couldn't see me, so I answered, "No! 'Course not!" I leaned away as far as I could, and he gave the wall a light tap with his staff. The three doors swung open, letting the gloomy light from the halls inside the box. I jumped out. Hey, this hall actually had windows! I looked back at Master who was already out. The box was gradually disappearing. "That was close!" I sighed and made sure that my helmet was still on. I still have my wand! "And scary!"

"Come on, let's go," said Master, already walking away at a quickening pace. Hey, somebody just tried to kill us. Shouldn't he tell me why? As... weird... as Sengenjin is, I don't think that it was a random act of violence.

"Um... Master?" He didn't stop. Actually, he seemed to be walking quicker. Scowling, I ran after him. "Master!" I lunged at him and clamped my arms around him.

He stumbled forward a few steps and stared at me when he regained his balance. "May I ask what you're doing?"

"First you tell me what's going on!" I said determinedly. "Why was he after us! Tell me!"

"Dark Magician Girl..."

_"Master!"_

With a small shake of his head, he continued walking. "We don't have time for this."

A sweatdrop was starting to form on my head. "Um... I..." He was literally dragging me down the hall. "...I'm not holding you back in any sort of way, am I?"

"No," he said coolly. I groaned and released him.

"You're definitely hiding something!" I said and walked in front of him. He didn't stop, so I walked backwards. Still, I wasn't giving up until I learned something about this big secret. "I mean, Amir knows too!" I could see that affected him. A barely noticeable frown darkened his face. I pressed on, "He did say something about Sengenjin being 'the one this time.' What's that mean?"

"He's insane; don't talk to him." Master nearly stopped when he saw my reaction to his response. Nearly. So close, though. "I mean it, Dark Magician Girl." Then he gave me one of those looks of revelation and queried, "And _when_ was this?"

"Uh..." I thought about it. "Recently," I said after a long pause.

"How recently?" he asked, his steps hastening again. That forced me to walk back quicker. I looked behind my shoulder to make sure that nothing was in my way, and I remembered that I had only met the guy today. Therefore, how recently...? Darn, the roles have been switched!

"Well...Ah!" I grinned at the loophole that I just grasped. "Today."

"Oh?" As hard as he tried, a smile managed to get past his efforts. "Then tell him to leave you alone next time."

By the time we got back to our seats, the second Duel had already started. The Old Vindictive Magician wasn't in my seat anymore. When I asked why, Mystical Elf laughed and said, "Well, the Magician of Black Chaos threatened him, and he left!" The previously mentioned mage shrugged casually and she continued, "He said that if he didn't leave, he would blast him off the spot with a Chaos Sceptre Attack!" This time, the Magician of Black Chaos glared daggers at her, but she didn't notice him.

"I didn't know you cared!" I said, sincerely.

The glares were aimed at me. It was an uncomfortable situation to be in, but I survived. When he was through with his death glares, he said, "By the way, what happened to you two?" With an easygoing grin, he examined our dusty armor said, "Did a hallway cave in or something?"

I gaped at him and exclaimed, "Wow! How'd you know!"

Their reactions were comical and identical. Both stared at me for two seconds in horror. Then, they leaned towards me dramatically, with aghast expressions, they both cried in unison, "WHAT!"

Master watched them and commented on their performance, "Sounds rehearsed."

"Whoa, man; what happened!" demanded the chaos mage, turning his attention to him. Master raised an eyebrow, as if testing the Magician of Black Chaos. A look of comprehension replaced his confusion. "Oh, I see... Who was it this time?"

"Sengenjin," Master replied, brushing the dust from the emerald orb on his staff. It glowed eerily.

The Magician of Black Chaos' mouth moved, but no sound came out. "A soundproof barrier?" asked Mystical Elf, and I confirmed her guess with a nod. She noticed the betrayed look on my face and said, "What's wrong, Dark Magician Girl?"

"I can't believe it!" I said in distress. "Even the Magician of Black Chaos knows what's going on!"

"Does it make you feel any better if I told you I didn't, either?" she asked with a hopeful smile.

Sighing disappointedly, I said, "I'd rather if you knew. Then, you could tell me!"

An argument seemed to have broken out between the two full-fledged magicians. Well, even if I didn't know what they were saying, at least I could make out something from their expressions! I take that back. Master's face revealed nothing. The Magician of Black Chaos' expressions, then.

Yup, he seemed to be rendered speechless from something that Master had said. Finally, he grinned awkwardly and nodded. Then he was serious. He said something. Master nodded this time. I'm pretty sure he said, "I'll go." For what? The sphere on his staff glowed again. I watched him hurry back inside.

"What was that about?" I asked the Magician of Black Chaos.

"Nothing to worry your pretty little heads off about," he replied with a good-natured smile and folded his arms.

"Flattery gets you nowhere with me," I said angrily. Unfortunately, Mystical Elf blushed, so I couldn't count on her support.

"Neither does curiosity," he said and pointed to the arena behind me. "Oh yeah, your friend, Maya, is Dueling the Amazon Archer right now."

I turned back around. The words, "She's not my friend", threatened to spill out of my mouth, but I held them in.

Their Lifepoints had both been attacked at least once. The Amazon Archer seemed to have the advantage. Arrows flew at Maya from all directions. Half of them missed their mark when the Dark Witch unfurled her wings and took flight. She dodged the few arrows that had been launched into the air and whacked a newly shot one out of the air with her spear.

"So predictable!" said Maya with a jeering laugh. The female archer glowered at her and sent another arrow at her. Like before, Maya knocked it back to the ground. This time, she dived towards her opponent and slashed at her. "Ha!"

The Amazon Archer jumped back and evaded the spear. Immediately following that attack, Maya aimed and hurled her weapon at the Lifepoints that was down to 1200. With no hesitation, the Amazon Archer pulled back an arrow and released it. It glided through the air with such speed! It was like it was splitting the air itself!

The arrow impaled itself in the spear and pushed it off its original course. Maya looked away from the failed attack to face an arrow pointed right at her. She backed away a few steps in surprise. "Now it's your turn, Witch!" said the Amazon unremorsefully and let the arrow fly.

One of Maya's large wings whipped in front of her like a shield. A grimace appeared on her face as the arrow pierced through the feathers and into the flesh. She inspected the injury for less than a second and ripped it out of her wing. I heard Mystical Elf inhale a sickened gasp. Maya threw the arrow like a spear at the Amazon Archer's Lifepoints. It hit. She won.

"Congratulations to Maya, the Dark Witch," said the Unhappy Maiden. There was a little resentment in her voice, but she covered most of it up with a bubbly, cheerful tone. The Witty Phantom was watching her carefully. It almost reminded me of a tiger, ready to pounce on its unsuspecting prey.

"Huh," said the Magician of Black Chaos once the contestants had left the Dueling field. "That was unexpected." I didn't say anything. I might be facing Maya in the next round...

"Your beloved Witty Phantom is back!" Half the audience groaned as the fiend's voice rose above the clamor of the crowd. "I'm here to announce the third Duel in the second round!" he said, choosing to pay no attention to the 'boo's he was getting. The Unhappy Maiden gave him a light whack on the head, but he ignored that too. "The Duel Monsters are... uh... hold on...um... what's her name? Oh yeah! Dark Magician Girl!"

"Aren't you lucky?" chuckled the Magician of Black Chaos.

Mystical Elf gave him an annoyed look, but I just shrugged. "Well, it can't be avoided, now can it?" I stood up and stretched my arms. "Okay! Who'd he say my opponent was again?"

"I didn't hear," said the level-eight Dark Magician, "but that doesn't matter. We'll find out when we get there."

"'We'?" I asked, catching that a few seconds after he had spoken.

"Yeah, Dark told me to make sure you didn't get into any trouble when he was gone."

"Gee, you really do care, don't you?"

"Not really," he said with a sheepish grin. "We made a deal..." I opened my mouth to speak, but he then stopped me by saying, "that you might find out later, but not now."

"'Secrets, secrets are no fun. Secrets are for everyone.'" The Magician of Black Chaos' headpiece suddenly rose from his head. He turned around to face the redheaded harpy, who now held it in her hands. "Hi."

"You are so annoying," he told her. She just grinned smugly.

"You two know each other?" asked Mystical Elf watching in bewilderment as Elly ran her talons through his thick mane while mumbling in disgust.

"Tch, yeah," he grumbled, now looking very sulky. "She chased me halfway across Yugi's deck just to find out where Dark Magician was, so she could have a rematch!" He tilted his head to the side a little, as if to pull away from Elly. _"Let go."_

The Harpy Lady gave a dismayed sigh as her fingers got caught in some of his tangles. "You have so much hair, but you don't take care of it!" He snorted at that comment. "It's such a shame, really!" She blinked and pulled, but her hand wouldn't come free. "Oh... I think I'm stuck..."

He looked as if he was going to explode. A sinister aura surrounded him. "You... _what?"_ he asked in a menacing voice. As I've said, all Dark Magicians can look scary when they wanted to! And the Magician of Black Chaos was definitely no exception!

"Joking," laughed Elly as she yanked her hand away. At the same time, a few strands were pulled out. "Ooh... Sorry," she said as the chaos magician pointed his staff at her in a very threatening way. "Okay, okay. Let's go, Dark Magician Girl!"

"Huh?" I asked, "Oh! Are _you_ Dueling me?"

She nodded. "Right." She grabbed my arm and pulled me into a run. The Magician of Black Chaos got up and took a step after us. "Hey, think fast!" She stopped and ran behind me. She flung his helmet at him. He caught it and fumbled with it for a short time before completely getting a good grip on it. Or, so I had thought.

After almost dropping it, he yelled, "Hey! Wait—!"

Elly ran started running again. "She's a big girl!" she called back to him as she ran faster. "She doesn't need you _men_ hanging around her all the time!"

"Uh... it's okay," I said as she pushed me down the hall. "They're nice when you get to know them..."

Laughing, she slowed down to a walk. "Yeah, Chaos is cute, but a little conceited, know?" Then she observed that I was staring at her in disbelief. Hey, I hadn't expected her to say something like that! She smirked at me. "You're pretty lucky. I know plenty of girls who would kill to be you."

I remembered the fangirls and said, "I think I know a few too..." I grinned at the memory, which now was kinda funny. "In fact, I'm pretty sure that they tried to today..."

"Well," the Harpy Lady said as we neared the entrance to the arena, "You know what I told you before, right?"

As we walked to the center of the field, I said, "Uh huh. All friendships are left outside of the battlefield!" My voice rang out louder than I had intended. She had informed me of her little rule during our first Duel... It wasn't a pleasant Duel. I ended up forfeiting, but not after I took down her dragon! Skull's been dying for a good battle after that, and Graceful's dying from Skull's complaints—

—Whoa, whoa, whoa! Wait, does that mean she thinks of me as a friend?

"All right, quickly, quickly! The tournament only lasts for one day! And we're already in the afternoon!" announced the Witty Phantom. I shook hands with Elly and looked over to the Judges' Table. The Judge Man was waiting for us to walk to separate sides of the arena. His red-haired daughter was paying more attention to the microphone in the Witty Phantom's hand than us. A discussion was taking place between the Chaos Command Magician and Master... Wha...? What's he doing here? I couldn't hear anything, so I'm assuming that another soundproof barrier had been set up. Elly and I walked to our starting positions. "So, now that we're all ready, I'd like to say that despite the lousy turn of events—"

With a snap of his fingers, the Chaos Command Magician had apparently disabled the barrier. He turned to the Witty Phantom and said calmly, "You speak of how the contestants waste mere seconds, but you must consume the most time with your rants. I suggest you cease with your childish nonsense and do what you're compensated for." The red-faced fiend looked at him, clueless. "Imbecile, announce the beginning of the Duel."

"First, you tell me what 'imbecile' means," said the current announcer.

The Judge Man had had enough. "Fool! Start the Ra-da—"

"Say 'Duel,'" said the Chaos Command Magician and returned to his conversation with Master.

"Right..." The Witty Phantom gave him a withering look. "DUEL!"

* * *

Yeah, about that rhyme that Harpy Lady said? See, my friends recited that to me once. It's been stuck in my head ever since...

Yeah, yeah. I know. Sad excuse for an update, huh? Well, just wait! For what? More action in the next chappy, of course!

In the next chapter, we'll give you some info on what's the big secret, as well as a little on Amir. Seeya there! R&R!


	10. Dark Magician Girl vs Harpy Lady!

Princess of Magic

By Anime2000

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!... Ha! Bet you were expecting me to type something else, huh— (looks at what she wrote) Oh... Never mind.

Yes, yes... (sighs) Well, I know how you all hate cliffies, but somehow I can't stop! XD And DMG's not the only one keeping me from the romance. I think there's a traffic light for the DM/DMGness. Right now, it's red because of the timing and such. I shall wait for it to turn green... (sits down and stares at an imaginary traffic light)

* * *

Why's Master here?

Urg, I should've paid attention. A winged shadow fell over me. I looked up to see Elly swooping towards me to deliver her attack. "Wha—wait!"

"Not in this Duel!" she shouted, brandishing her Rose Whip. She lashed it at me. No way I could dodge it. And even if I did, it would deal some serious damage to my Lifepoints.

"And Elly starts off with an excellent jump!" The Witty Phantom said, but there was something about his voice... Oh, Elly's sisters were probably bullying him again.

"Magical Hats!" I yelled, summoning one of my favorite tricks. I transported myself to a different location before the silk hat's brim even touched the ground. Then I whispered two spells and then jumped out of the top of the hat. Elly was aiming for my Lifepoints, now that I was out of the way. "Harpy Lady!" I called to her and pointed my wand at her. "Dark Burning Attack!"

She spun around sliced right through my magic with her claws. "Nice try, Magical Girl."

I grinned. "Thanks," I said, raising my wand in the air. "Activate Skull Dice!" From one of the remaining hats popped out my little, black friend. "While I was back there, I summoned Skull to the field," I explained, jabbing a thumb over my shoulder to where I had jumped out a few seconds earlier. Skull beamed and chucked his red die at Elly, who was still unaware of what had happened.

The die hit and rolled on the ground. Everything was so quiet and still! It was as if everyone held their breath in waiting. The die stopped.

'It landed on a five!' crowed Skull, doing a few back flips in the air before turning invisible. Or as he would put it, 'disappearing.'

"And that was a seriously lucky roll!" squealed the Unhappy Maiden. "Good job, Dark Magician Girl!"

"That means nothing!" hissed the redheaded wind monster and scratched a chunk off my Lifepoints. I didn't let her attack again.

"Dark Burning Attack!" She leapt away. My own attack barely missed my Lifepoints! That was too close! Maybe I do need to work on my aim...

Swinging my wand around me, I released another burst of dark energy, encasing myself in a cocoon of magic. A shrieked came from above me. My shield cracked and splintered into tiny shards. I waved away a few of the pieces away from my face with my hand as I turned around. "You..." The Harpy Lady's wings had a few glassy shards embedded in them. "A Mirror... Force...?" Her voice held no trace of anger. More like surprise and maybe a little admiration. "Heh, you've certainly gotten better." I did feel a little guilty about using that, though...

"Huh!" A thick cord wound itself around my neck. With a sudden jerk, I was yanked to the ground. "A-ah!" I gasped, pulling on what was constricting my throat. The Rose Whip! "Nn...! On second thought, I take it back..."

Elly freed me and said, "But you still have to learn to pay attention! Hya!" The Rose Whip came at me again. I rolled away in time, but... not just in time.

My fingers touched the raw skin beneath my right eye delicately. I wasn't blind, but if it had hit a few centimeters higher... Ironically, the only phrase that came to mind was 'an eye for an eye.'

"Tsk, tsk." It was the Witty Phantom's voice this time. "You need to be fast if you wanna last!"

I blocked the Rose Whip's next strike with my wand. Unfortunately, the cord wrapped itself tightly around it. "N—no!" I cried as my wand was snatched from my hand and flung at least 20 meters away from me. I pushed myself up and ran after it before it started to fall, but suddenly, I froze in midstep. The Harpy Lady's Rose Whip had ensnared me in an unyielding bind. I had been in this position before, but this time, it was a little different. Elly let go of the other end and went for my Lifepoints. "Hey!" I yelled, running after her. This was amazingly embarrassing. What was I supposed to do? Ram myself into her?

That'll work. It's not like I haven't done it before! Hoping for the best, I hurdled myself at her and braced for impact.

She let out a shriek as she fell before me. I managed to, somehow, stay on my feet. "Ha!" I said, grinning triumphantly. The vine around me loosened and fell around my feet. "Oh...!" Skull reappeared on my shoulder and spat out some of—what really looked like—the Rose Whip.

'Yuck!' he sniffed and made a face. 'It smelled better than it tasted!'

"You _chewed _through my _Rose Whip_!" demanded Elly, jumping to her feet. She looked really mad. Skull winced and cowered behind my tangled, blonde locks. The Witty Phantom was laughing loudly, even without the microphone.

The Unhappy Maiden giggled as well and declared, "A nice strategic move, I guess. Go Skull Dice!"

"Skull, get me my wand!" I whispered and raised my arms in a defensive stance. Without another word, he was gone. Hopefully, to retrieve my wand. And if not... Well, I'm going to have to trust him on this one. "Two direct attacks, and that's as far as you'll get!" I said to Elly.

"Heh, we'll see!" She swiped at me with one claw, then the other. Both of them met with the armor that covered my forearms.

A cold realization hit me. She kicked my unprotected stomach, and I staggered back. That gave her the opportunity to deal a blow to my head. And she took it. I saw stars fly past my eyes as her fist collided with the side of my head. Thank Ra my helmet was there! But she could have aimed lower if she wanted to really hurt me... "Nngh..." Either ways, I fell to the ground.

'Dark Magician Girl!' My vision had started to fade, but I saw a familiar black figure flying towards me. 'Catch!' My wand flew towards me.

With a somewhat shaky hand, I reached out and grabbed it. I turned around and saw that Elly's talons were too close to my Lifepoints. "Dark...Dark Burning Attack!" I yelled, focusing almost all of my power in that attack.

"Ah—!" That was the last thing I heard from her before I sent her sailing back to her side of the field. Right in front of her Lifepoints.

Skull was prancing around my head. No, that wasn't because I was still a little dizzy from using up too much of my energy. He was literally dancing around my head. 'You did it! You did it!'

"Not quite," I mumbled and stood up, ignoring a new wave of dizziness that was starting to cloud my mind. Closing my eyes tightly, I counted to 3 and then reopened them. Things had become a little clearer. Skull was pounding on my helmet, yelling at me to take this time to my advantage. I rushed towards Elly and cast a spell: "Swords of Revealing Light!"

As the luminous blades rained down around the harpy and her Lifepoints, I sensed the rest of my magic was draining away quickly. I had to get there in time to pull off my last move! Another rush of dizziness. I frowned and made myself run faster.

"I'll have to give her credit for being able to use up so much energy," said the Witty Phantom, "but she's gonna faint! Faint, I say! Faint!" I was very tempted to make a right turn and whack the fiend with my wand before going after Elly. But I continued down the smarter path.

Unexpectedly, I made it! Gasping for breath and practically dying, but I was there! Elly glared at me, unable to leave her glowing prison. I noticed the new wings that had sprouted on her back. The Harpy's Feather Duster! I pointed my wand at her. "It's too late."

"No..." she said, unfurling her wings slightly. "You'll have to attack twice, if you want to win!" The swords started to dissolve. "And there's no time for that!"

I smiled and pulled off my helmet, exposing the second spell that I had used right after I summoned Skull. "Activate Graceful Dice!"

'Let's try one attack,' Graceful Dice said, dropping his die on me. At once, I felt Graceful's magic coursing through me. Even if the die hadn't stopped yet, I knew I would win. After all, I just had to get a two or higher. Nothing hard about that.

She had completely unfolded her new wings. The swords shattered, one by one. There wasn't time for me to wait for the die to land. Ah well. Who cares? "Dark Burning Attack!" That was one of the strongest attacks I've ever accomplished. It engulfed both Elly and her Lifepoints.

When the light from my magic dimmed down, the Duel was over. Elly had been knocked off her feet. She sat on the ground and stared at the blue die listlessly. It had landed on a two, resulting in the increase of my attack points to 4000. "Hey... Elly?"

The Harpy Lady closed her eyes and released a depressing sigh. Then she looked up at me and smiled. "I guess... that means you win, Magical Girl."

I held a hand in front of her. She took it and pulled herself up. "Well, you were hard to beat!" I told her with a laugh. Graceful nodded and then nudged Skull. Skull started nodding.

"Dark Magician Girl was amazing," the Unhappy Maiden announced. "The Harpy Lady did quite well, too... Leading to both a spectacular win and a worthy loss! Five-minute intermission!"

"You might want to get that checked," Elly said to me as we exited the arena. She was referring to the wound caused by her Rose Whip. "It could get infected. Sorry about that."

I agreed and then said, "And are your wings gonna be all right? And your Rose Whip... It's..." I looked at Skull, wondering whether I should be grateful or upset. "Sorry about _that."_

"Never mind," she said and pointed.

The Magician of Black Chaos stood a few feet in front of us. "Oh!" I exclaimed, remembering his deal with Master. "You really didn't have to..."

Elly elbowed me and winked. "I'll get rid of him for you," she whispered and walked towards him.

"That's not necessary..." I said, but then sighed. Well, what can I do? She probably won't listen. Best to enjoy the show...?

"Oh, Magician of Black Chaos!" she sang in a singsong voice. He gave her a startled look that suggested that he was about to back away and then make a mad dash down the hall. But he never got a chance to do so. She launched herself at him and clamped on to his right arm. The one he holds his staff with, so he couldn't attack her. "How sweet; you waited for me!"

The look on his face was virtually priceless. "Wha... what?" He tried to pull away, but she held on tight and started dragging him down the hall. "Wait...! You...! I...!" He looked back at me as she broke into a run, taking him with her. I shrugged apologetically and waved him goodbye. "I hate you!" He yelled at me. Then he turned to Elly. "And I hate you even more!"

Giggling, she replied, "You flatter me."

His frustrated scream rang down the hall.

"Sorry Magician of Black Chaos," I whispered and smiled sheepishly. Hm... I wonder where Master went. He probably went inside before I did. Maybe sometime during the Duel. Hm, and I thought he'd wait for me! Ah well...

I picked a random direction that probably wasn't close to where the Magician of Black Chaos or the Harpy Lady went. And I leisurely walked down my chosen path. No need to hurry. Chances are, Sengenjin's probably given up by now and was searching the crowd. Even though I had no idea who was in the next Duel, I wasn't too worried. Skull and Graceful sat on both of my shoulders and seemed content at the moment.

"Ah, so you've already met Sengenjin."

"Amir..." I murmured absently. Now why in the Shadow Realm is he here? And who was he talking to?

'Friend of yours?" asked Graceful.

'Go check it out!' urged Skull. Graceful gave him a disapproving look, but I could tell that he was as eager as Skull was. And I was, too.

I followed the sound of his voice until I reached the hallway that he was in. That's when I retreated behind... guess what? A pillar! Hm... the person he was talking was really tall. The light from windows threw their faint shadows on the wall. Yeah, about the same height as him.

"I was going to warn you after Gaia and the Mysterious Puppeteer's Duel," he continued. His shadow waved its hand in the air, as if brushing the idea out of existence. "But I had no idea that you'd go looking for him."

"Trust me, I had no intention of playing hide-and-go-seek with a lunatic," the other person replied with a touch of annoyance. Instantly, I recognized the voice as Master's. Ooh... I guess that was my fault. I was the one that ran away... But I'm getting confused! I thought they hated each other! "It wouldn't have hurt to have informed me, though..."

"Well, you found out anyway. You've already told the Chaos Command Magician, right...?"

"The Magician of Black Chaos as well," Master interrupted him.

"Right. Well, now all you have to do is tell everyone else."

"I'm assuming that you'll assist me in that...?"

"Hey, I'm the scout. Not the messenger. That's your job, Brother." Amir's voice was light with humor, but it held a certain type of authority to it. "But doesn't it suck that this happens every year? But oh well. They've never stopped us before. This year should be no different."

"Don't get too cocky," Master sighed in exasperation. "And I'd like to know why you call me 'Brother.' We aren't related."

"Of course we are," Amir said, his voice filled with equal vexation. "How many times do I have to explain it? We came from the same stone tablet and were reborn into cards... Therefore, we're brothers! So does Mana—excuse me, Dark Magician Girl... Does she still know you as Mahaado? If I remember correctly, you were the one that decided to keep the name...Sorta... You go by Dark Magician, don't you?"

"I can't be too sure about her," said Master, leaning against the wall with the windows, so that his shadow no longer showed. "She seems to be remembering everything... Slowly, but still..."

"Time has been kind to us these past millennia. We haven't aged that much, but I'm a little disappointed with how Mana grew up." I blinked and glared at Amir's shadow. "She's still a little too immature for my liking. But at least she seems to be more interested in her studies."

Master walked towards him. I watched his shadow whack Amir's with its staff. "What do you mean... 'to your liking'?"

Amir backed away from him. "What I meant was that she still hasn't completely grown up. There are still many flaws in her magic. Which means that you haven't been training her that well. I would have certainly been a better teacher!"

"Would you, now?" asked Master. "Tell me, what would you have done? Would you have put her through rigorous training—practically killing her—so she'd improve?"

"No way... Well..." He was silent. Then, with a softer voice, he said, "But that's the reason she has to stay with you. I'm not sure if I trust myself... I want her to become a great magician, more powerful than any other Dark Magician! But to do that, she'd have to give up her childhood and dedicate her entire life to magic..."

"'Dedicate'...? Like you?"

"Like me," Amir admitted with a cheerless tone. "Ever since I've separated from the Black Magician and you, I've felt isolated from everything but my magic, so..." He sighed and said, "But enough about me. We're talking about the Dark Magician Girl. Even though I don't want you to go to the extremes with her studies, as I might, I still think you should increase her training." Eeeeee! 'Increase?' By how much!

"I understand, but..." Yes? Go on...

"But what?" Amir sighed again and said, "For Ra's sake, I know she's a likable girl... I've grown quite fond of her, but if you want what's best for her..." The movements of his hands made it look like he was grabbing words from the air and then tossing them aside as he searched for the right words to use. Finally, he gave up and said, "don't fall in love with her!"

Skull and Graceful clamped their hands over my mouth before I could say anything.

"Oh yeah... one more thing," said Amir. "Speaking of your apprentice..." I had pulled the two dice-holders off of me and looked back to the shadows.

Only to face Amir. He grinned. "Look who's back from her Duel?"

* * *

_Getting the picture, everyone?_

Well, it might not be the actual explanation, but I think the conversation between Amir and Dark Magician(Mahaado) explains why there are three Dark Magicians pretty well... Although, I have not been fair to Amir. He was, after all,the original Dark Magician from the manga. That would be the best explanation to why DMG's armor is blue and pink.

R&R, please!


	11. Alerting All Dark Magicians!: Part 1

Princess of Magic

By Anime2000

Disclaimer: I don't own it, okay! ... Okay, I don't own _Yu-Gi-Oh!._ There.

Oh geez... A writer's block hit me right before the Magician of Black Chaos' Duel, and my creativity got knocked unconscious for a few days. And THEN, I spent a day wondering why the heck my fics wouldn't load on Document Manager! The suspense of school will be hanging over my head for about a few more days or so. Let's see... That makes about seven days... A frustrating week for me, as you can tell.

Sorry, everyone! For all the cliffhangers, I mean. See, it's at this point of time in my fic where everything starts to melt together, and cliffies are inevitable... I'm expecting one for this chapter and next chapter. The one after that will, hopefully, not throw everyone's lives in danger.

_

* * *

_

The stupidest thing I could've done was turn around and run.

And strangely enough, that's what I did.

Unfortunately, Amir caught my right wrist and dragged me out of my shadowy hiding place. Skull and Graceful conveniently vanished. They probably went back to my room! Traitors! The look on Master's face rivaled the Magician of Black Chaos' when Elly dragged him away! "What a coincidence," Amir said with a smirk. "We were just talking about you."

"So I heard!" I snapped, yanking my arm back, but he wouldn't budge. _Crap,_ he was strong. I didn't know which emotion overpowered me the most right now. Fear or anger? Maybe half and half... "Let me go!"

"Now then, what should we do with her?" That question made me struggle harder. What did he mean by that! "It's rude to eavesdrop, you know," he murmured, pulling me closer. "Should we wipe out our conversation from her memory? But I doubt that would teach her a lesson. She'd forget."

I stuck my tongue out at him. All right, all right. Immature, I know, but I didn't know what else to do!

He laughed and said to Master, "You really haven't been training her that well, have you?" Master glared at him.

"He has too!" I pulled back, harder. Still no good.

"All right, show me." Not this again. "If he has, then you'd be able to break free from my grip easily."

"Amir..." Master warned him in a threatening voice.

The blue-red Dark Magician just grinned in that calm, casual kind of way. "Relax. I'm not going to hurt her... More than I have to, anyway." That was so not reassuring on so many levels. Okay... How do I get outta this mess? I could hit him with a Dark Burning Attack, but we were too close. I'd get hit, too. I couldn't channel my own magic through him and overwhelm him; he'd probably absorb it immediately, and that would lower my defenses just enough for him to leech the rest of my energy outta me. So no magic. Just a physical attack? No other choices... I threw a fist at him. He caught it and sprang back behind me. He still had my other arm! "I think you're off in a worse position than you started out with," he told me from behind.

"Ah...!" No duh! Somehow, I found my right arm pinned to my back in a really painful way. My left arm was in a strong grip, and I couldn't move it.

"Has he taught you how to get out of this hold? It can get worse." My eyes widened. It can? I tried to pull away, but I might as well have just stood there. "No, that's not gonna work. See, I could just do this, and—"

"Stop!"

"Heh," he let me go and gave me a light push. A blast of magic exploded behind me. I turned around and stumbled back a few steps away from the flare of dark energy. It dispersed, and Amir stood there with his staff in his hand. "I've noticed something: you get really defensive about her."

Master was the one that had fired the attack. "'More than you had to,'" he snarled and sent another Dark Magic Attack at him. "I should've just killed you right then and there."

Jumping away from the attack, Amir landed right next to me and pointed to me. "Oh no," he said, grinning. "I wasn't planning to actually hurt her even more. And besides, I figured you'd attack me or something before I went too far."

"Get away from her!" Another Dark Magic Attack. I sprung away, but it wouldn't have hit me anyway. Amir leapt out of the way, and Master bound after him. "You're too calculating!"

"And you're too defensive!" Amir countered, this time firing a sphere of magic at his 'brother.' Then he said, "And you're also too protective and obsessive." He laughed and dodged a streamer of dark magic. "Now, shall we continue identifying each others' faults, or should we move on to immature name calling already?"

"Amir..."

"Or death threats? Those get more creative as time passes."

"HEY, AMIR!"

"Hm?" All three of stopped whatever we were doing—even if some of us were just watching—at the sound of the Witty Phantom's voice.

"YOU'VE GOT TWO MINUTES TO GET TO THE ARENA, OR ELSE YOU'RE OUT!"

Amir sighed, "Sorry, I've gotta go." He ran past me. Then he stopped and came back. "By the way, you're bleeding," he said, pointing to my face.

"Oh..." The Duel with Elly. The Rose Whip. I didn't know it had started bleeding... "Really?"

"Yeah, right..." he said and gave the wound a flick with his index finger, "there." And he ran off. "Seeya."

Owww! My hand shot up and touched the sore spot gingerly. It throbbed. It was like my skin was moving. "You didn't have to do that, you jerk!"

"Dark Magician Girl..." I looked to my right. Master looked really guilty. But why? "This was my fault... I didn't respond as quickly as I should have. He could have really hurt you..." Oh, is that what this was about?

I grinned. "Nah. He wouldn't."

He looked surprised. "What makes you so sure?"

"Dunno. He's not _that_ bad of a guy, is he?" I said, and looked at my fingers. No blood. And the Rose Whip injury didn't hurt anymore. I didn't heal myself. Which could've only meant one thing:

"_Yeah, right..." he said and gave the wound a flick with his index finger, "there." And he ran off. "Seeya."_

I don't get it... Why? I blew a sigh and decided to think about it later. I didn't get Amir. If he was truly a third of Mahaado's soul, then he must've gotten the really enigmatic third. Or temperamental third. That needs some further thought as well, but sometime later.

"Well, then I suggest we head outside... Before the Mystical Elf comes in looking for us. Or the Magician of Black Chaos." He added that with a sardonic smile. "Whoever misses us first, that is."

"Oh...!" I realized that he was leaving a few seconds later than I should have. "Right!" As I sprinted after him, I couldn't help wondering... Mahaado—no, Master... is he really in love with me? I ran through recent memories in my mind. Either I had totally exaggerated the scenes, or he's really starting like me!

But Amir had warned him, "_Don't fall in love with her!"_ which means that he's not in love with me already right? And I've known Master long enough to know that he would have taken precautions to do just that... I think...

Blushing, I remembered what he said to me during the Duel between Yami and Arkana: _"Well done, my love."_ But that could've been because he was really happy that I totally saved the day! Hehe, my big debut, you could call it!

"_But if you want what's best for her..."_ That's what Amir said to Master. And doesn't he want that? But I want...

No... I slowed down a little to a walk.

I've been trying to skip over these thoughts whenever they occurred. Graceful and Skull sometimes tease me relentlessly about it. And I try not to admit it to myself because then, I'll just go crazy wondering if he returns my emotions. I thought maybe if I didn't tell myself that... Maybe if I denied it long enough... Because if he doesn't feel the same way about me... Then it wouldn't hurt so much... The rejection, I mean... But I want him to love me. To fall in love with me. Because...

I stopped walking. It felt like my heart tightened.

I've fallen for him.

Wow, I sound amazingly selfish. Hmph, but this is my mind, and I can think whatever I want! Still, that didn't keep my face from flushing to a bright red. At least, I think it's a bright red. Luckily, I'd fallen way behind, so Master didn't see a thing. Or suspect a thing.

I hope he doesn't read minds.

The air stood still. An eerie atmosphere had settled down around me. I forgot my troubles of the heart for a moment. It was as if someone was trying to mask their aura. Their presence. It couldn't have been Master. We're both Spellcasters of the same type... We're Dark Magicians, so I could feel his magic pulling at me gently, and I'm pretty sure mine reacted in the same way; like magnets, I guess. That makes it easier for me to find Dark Magicians, but it's only if I concentrate on the magic. But this...

I looked behind me, hoping to see someone. Unless they've used an invisibility spell _and_ a masking spell—which could really consume your magic—then I should've seen this mystery Spellcaster.

But I didn't. It could be a spirit or ghost, I reminded myself. ...I don't like that idea... "Dark Magician Girl."

"Master," I said, turning back to face his direction. "Master—there's someone here."

"I've noticed," he said, a frown appearing on his face. "And they've used a mundane masking spell, too." I actually knew what he was talking about. That made me happy! See, a normal masking spell would simply just freeze the energy around you, encasing your magic in... Well, a small box of air, you could call it. But sometimes, a Spellcaster could sense the deadness in the air, and they'd be able to find you. More complex spells would actually cause the other monsters around you to release more magic, their aura, and that would cover yours. But that doesn't work as well if there's only one other monster, or if there's a really magic-sensitive monster nearby. Neither way's foolproof, unfortunately. Yeah, I had a test over this recently.

My voice bounced off the walls, "Is anyone there?" Of course, I hadn't expected a reply, but it was worth a shot, right? Hm, the air's back to normal, so I guess the anonymous monster's gone. I glanced over at Master. "You don't think it's Amir, do you?"

"He'd never miss a Duel in a tournament on purpose. Or for no good reason."

"I see... Should we do some investigating?"

His reply was short and simple: "No." I gave him a perplexed look, so he elaborated, "It can't be safe." Still short and simple. Bravo, Master, bravo. Was he still worried about Sengenjin? Hmm, well chances are, Sengenjin can't use magic like Spellcasters because he isn't a Spellcaster. So it couldn't have been him. That shouldn't have taken that much thought.

"Master, you still haven't told me why Sengenjin's after us."

"If I told you, will you promise not to go looking for him or the monster who hired him?" he asked, folding his arms.

After a nice, long moment of silence, I found my voice and shrieked, "He was _hired_! Do you know who?"

"No. Now come on, let's get out of here before something happens," he said, and continued walking.

I ran after him. "Is that why you haven't told me? You thought I might try to look for this guy?"

"Would you have not?"

"No!" I exclaimed, shaking my head furiously.

"Look me in the eye and say it."

So I did. My green eyes locked with his blue eyes, and I said, "No..." And sadly, I faltered, "Well... I..." He nodded, confirming his suspicions, and walked away. "Um... Not without your permission!" I tried, following him with an earnest smile. He almost returned it.

Well, I wouldn't have _tried_ to look for the person. I might've followed him/her if I found out who he/she was. But apparently, Master didn't want me doing that either, so his lips remained sealed.

Hmph!

Amir's Duel had ended a few seconds before we exited the halls, and the Magician of Black Chaos was going in for his. After asking us why we spent so much time in the halls for a good three minutes, and getting no answers, he gave up and hurried to the arena.

"Good luck!" I called after him.

"Yeah, Buster Blader doesn't stand a chance!" he said, spinning around and flashing me a slightly maniacal grin. It suited him. "And don't you dare miss my Duel!" And with that, he was gone.

Master gave the absent mage a critical look. Seeing as how he most likely needed an explanation, I pulled at his arm and told him, "I missed his last Duel, and I left him to Harpy Lady, so the least I could do is cheer him on for this one!" Hey, how come I'm explaining to him, and he's not explaining to me! Just wait; I'll figure this out sooner or later...

"I see," he said as I led him to our seats, "And I suppose that giving his ego a slight boost will serve as an apology?"

"Bingo!" I said happily, sitting down beside Mystical Elf.

"Now why didn't I think of that?" asked Master, his voice a mix between sarcasm and amusement.

The Duel had just started, and both contestants leapt into action immediately. Buster Blader swung his sword at the Magician of Black Chaos, but that was deflected easily with a swift block of his staff. The chaos magician counterattacked with flare of dark magic. The Warrior flew a few feet back, and due to the fact that he was standing right in front of him, the attack blasted the chaos mage back, too.

But he did that on purpose. Otherwise, he wouldn't have done a backflip in midair and land exactly on the Judges' Table. What a showoff! But I wish I could do that! The Witty Phantom gave a small squeak and lunged behind the Judge Man. The Chaos Command Magician didn't flinch. I wonder if he even blinked!

The Magician of Black Chaos hopped off the table. "Since I didn't touch any of you guys, I didn't break any rules, right?"

"Sadly, that's correct," the Chaos Command Magician told him, sarcastically. The Magician of Black Chaos laughed at that comment and returned to the Duel. "And what's sadder is our announcer." The fiend in the purple suit gave him a glare for that comment.

Buster Blader watched the Magician of Black Chaos carefully, his sword gripped in his hands as he waited for the right time to strike. His opponent was... the opposite. The Magician of Black Chaos was relaxed, and a confident grin was on his face. "My last Duel lasted six minutes..." He held up a hand in front of him in a fashion similar to what our Duelist would do when he Mind Crushed an enemy. "This one's gonna end at five."

"He's awfully confident..." Mystical Elf said, shaking her head a little as she smiled at his announcement.

"Or conceited," I said, remembering what Elly said. "But then again, there are a lot of words that would describe him!"

The two had engaged in a rapid trade of attacks. A Chaos Sceptre Attack for every swipe of a blade. Buster Blader was getting nervous, I could tell. His sword never even touched the black-clad mage, but a few explosions of magic had already made their marks on his armor. Hmm, the Magician of Black Chaos had an advantage because he could fire long-distance attacks; while Buster Blader could only get close to attack him. Even so, if he got too careless, then there will be injuries.

Buster Blader slashed at the Magician of Black Chaos. He swung his staff to the right to block it. That would've worked if it hadn't been a trick to lower his guard. The Warrior changed positions and sliced downward. The Magician of Black Chaos quickly brought his staff up in front of him to stop the attack.

"Five minutes, huh? You might want to rethink your plan," Buster Blader said as he advanced with multiple hacks, all aimed for the Magician of Black Chaos, but were intercepted by the magician's staff.

Surprisingly, the dark Spellcaster wasn't worried. At least, it didn't show on his face. In fact, he grinned. "Yeah, well... I figured I'd spend four minutes entertaining the audience before the finale." He leapt away and tapped the ground lightly with his staff. "You know, there's a reason they call me the Magician of Black Chaos."

The whole battlefield seemed to explode with black light. A glare of darkness covered the field. Wherever the light touched me, my skin tingled. I felt magic pounding in me like blood. So unnaturally. So loudly. I winced and raised a hand to my head. I stared at it.

"Dark Magician Girl, you're glowing!" Mystical Elf looked at me, horrorstruck. It was black light again.

"I... I am..." That was all I could manage before I began to panic. "Master, what's happening to me!"

He looked at me for a moment with a thoughtful expression. "Most likely the radiation from that attack," he said as he observed the Duel. The light intensified.

"Radiation...?"

"Yes," he went on, frowning, "it's because the last attack released an incredibly large amount of dark magic. As the Dark Magician Girl, you automatically absorb the energy given off from the Dark Magician, or the Magician of Black Chaos, and you gain 300 attack points. Such a transfer of raw energy would have side effects from being forced into you..." I nodded as my headache grew worse. "So, it's not exactly like receiving the magic from the Graveyard."

The dark light started to fade. The pounding softened. "So... I'm not radioactive, am I?"

Mystical Elf breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, if that's what your effect does, then I'm sure you're all right."

"Uh huh..." That was reassuring. I swear; I've been riding a roller coaster of emotions since the beginning of the day. "But... that was a pretty cool move!"

"There are disadvantages," Master said as the light completely diminished, the two Dueling monsters reappearing again.

Mystical Elf and I both asked, "What do you mean?"

"An dazzling attack pulled off by the Magician of Black Chaos!" said the Unhappy Maiden, leaning forward between the Chaos Command Magician and the Judge Man to get a better look. The Witty Phantom made no attempt to snatch the microphone from her with the level-six Warrior in the middle. "However, BOTH sides received equal damage, rendering both players' Lifepoints to 200!"

"And so ends my five minutes," said the Magician of Black Chaos with a self-satisfied grin. His staff whirled around in his fingers in a blur. He brought it to the ground, directing a powerful wave of magic through the earth. "Chaos Sceptre Attack!" It crackled wildly as it headed towards the Buster Blader at a lightning-quick speed.

A foot away, it emerged from the ground and collided head-on into Buster Blader. And the Magician of Black Chaos finished off the rest of the swordsman's Lifepoints.

"Wow!" the Unhappy Maiden exclaimed, "That was an excellent Duel! Do our judges have anything to say?" She held the microphone to the Judge Man. He shrugged and pushed it away. So she tried the Chaos Command Magician.

He actually did have something to say: "Another Dark Magician advances to round three. The final Duel in round two will determine if the next qualifies as well."

"Uh... Right!" she said with a cheerful nod, "And since I'm taking the place of the Empress Judge, who was here last year, all I have to say was that Buster Blader and the Magician of Black Chaos were both awesome! Dark Magician will Duel the Flame Swordsman in the next round!"

"Oh, that's right!" I said as Master got up to leave. "You still haven't Dueled yet!"

"Dark Magician Girl, you should go with him," said Mystical Elf.

"Why?" I asked, watching as he disappeared into the crowd.

"Because if something happens, then you can run for help!"

I did one of those anime falls and then jumped back to my feet. I blushed and cried, "How come you're making me sound like a coward!" I heaved a frustrated sigh, but she did have a point. Two magicians were better than one, when facing a scary ogre-like Beast-Warrior. "But you're right... I'll go anyway."

She smiled, waved, and said, "Be careful!"

As I hurried after my teacher, I did notice that Dark Paladin had moved to a spot closer to the entrance to the halls. Hmm... Does he know about Sengenjin? I would've warned him, but he _is_ the strongest Dark Magician here. He'll probably be okay.

I saw the purple-robed mage standing in the middle of the hall. "Master...!" But it wasn't really him that caught my eye. It was what he was staring at. "Heh?" I grinned at the sight.

"Give that back, ya hairball!" roared the blonde. A train of heavy swearing followed shortly.

"Kurriii! Kuri kuri!" came the angry response. A train of 'kuri's followed shortly.

The Musician King and Kuriboh were locked in a heated argument, but it's possible that neither of them understood what the other was saying. What's odd was what they were fighting over.

"You realize that if you let Kuriboh see your guitar, it'll leave you alone?" asked Master.

"Stay outta this, Mage!" snapped the musician. He pulled his guitar away from Kuriboh, "This is between the hairball and me!"

"Of course, I was only suggesting..." He noticed my presence and motioned for me to follow as he walked away. It's rude to stare, I know, but I couldn't help it! The scene was too funny!

But it was only AFTER we were a safe distance away, did I burst into giggles. "I wonder if he knows that Kuriboh explodes..."

"I have no intention of telling him."

The Magician of Black Chaos met us right before we entered the zone where everyone's voice was amplified louder than they really are. "Hey Dark! DMG, told you I'd win!" he said, a big grin on his face. I think Master had given up on him calling us by our actual names.

There was a loud crash. But it wasn't the kind that happened when a guitar got smashed into someone's head or something of the sort. It was like a hallway had collapsed or something... Quivers ran up my body from the floor. "Oh no..."

The Chaos Command Magician came over. "The possibility that that was Sengenjin is exceptionally probable."

Scowling, the Magician of Black Chaos asked, "Can you pause the tournament for a while?"

"Unfortunately not," said the other chaos magician, shaking his head. Another crash. It was closer this time. "The tournament only lasts until midnight. And we're already running behind... However, there is a ten-minute intermission scheduled after your Duel, Dark Magician. That is, if you finish in ten minutes. But if you can finish it in five minutes, then it will be fifteen. I'm assuming that that will be sufficient time to deal with our current assassin?"

"We'll hold him off for those five minutes—" the Magician of Black Chaos stopped and corrected himself when Master glared at him. "All right, I'LL hold him off for five minutes..."

Master turned to the Chaos Command Magician. "So we're going to pretend that nothing's happening? Even though this occurs every year?"

"This is a private issue," was the brusque reply, "You know the rules as well as I do. And traditions cannot be broken for this... type of situation. Furthermore, now, you only have four minutes to Duel, if you wish to sustain those fifteen minutes."

"And what about her?" Master was talking about me, now.

"She's in capable hands," the Chaos Command Magician said, nodding to the Magician of Black Chaos.

"Barely capable..."

The Magician of Black Chaos glared at him, "It was that harpy's fault; not mine!"

"I'll be all right!"

They all looked at me.

"I will," I murmured, feeling a little uneasy from the sudden attention that I've attracted. "And besides, Sengenjin might be defeated before you finish your Duel!"

"Three minutes now," said the Chaos Command Magician, "And I assure you that you will want to have at least a ten-minute intermission. There's a very good chance that one of you will Duel first in round three."

"Relax!" The Magician of Black Chaos said and shoved them outside. He grabbed my hand, as they looked back, and was already heading towards the source of another crash. "We'll be fine, Dark. I promise I won't let anything happen to your precious pupil, okay? But you can't lose...!" He stopped for a second and reminded him, "You still owe me a Duel!"

"You have about two minutes and twenty-nine seconds now," said the Chaos Command Magician's amplified voice over the cheers of the crowd.

Master sighed, and his voice was also magnified, "The Flame Swordsman is not going to be pleased with the outcome of this Duel..."

"Exactly where are we going?" I asked, struggling to keep up with the Magician of Black Chaos, "The halls have been totally flattened!"

"Not all of them," he said, making a sharp turn to the left, "What we—excuse me, what I—have to do is direct Sengenjin away from the main hallway... Or else, there's gonna trouble."

I understood what he meant. If the main hallway's gone, then there's no way to get from the audience to the arena... Unless you decide to jump, like I did. And I'm sure everyone would comprehend that completely if they knew what was going on. But something tells me that no one else, other than the Dark Magicians, know what's going on. I'm beginning to understand. But there's still one more piece of the puzzle that needs to be found.

"A_ha..._!" said the ritual magician triumphantly as we rounded another corner. "There you are!"

Sengenjin was finishing off a pillar. He looked up and saw us. "You... Dark Magicians!"

"Perceptive guy, aren't you?" my chaotic friend taunted and sent one of his weaker attacks at him. Sengenjin blocked it with a massive arm and roared an ear-splitting cry. Laughing mockingly, the Magician of Black Chaos challenged him, "Fight me!"

"Um... what am I supposed to do?" The magician replied by pulling my helmet down on my head.

"You might wanna hold on to that."

"Ow! What are you—" I pushed it back up with a hand. The one that held my wand. He grabbed it. "Hm?"

"Actually, you're not supposed to be in this picture," he said with a smirk. I stared at him in confusion. Then what'd he bring me here for? "I wanted to ask you a favor... Do you think you could rally up all the Dark Magicians you can find?" If he read my mind, I swear I'll never forgive him...

He leapt backwards. Since he still held my wand, I was yanked back with him. He dashed down the hall. I had no choice but to follow. From the thundering thuds behind us, I knew Sengenjin was chasing us.

I gave the mage a bewildered look. "How do I do that? I can't leave you here!"

"I thought you'd say that," he said and pulled me, by my wand, in front of him. "If you don't leave, then I'm gonna have to get rid of you." He let go of my wand. Suddenly, it seemed like it had a mind of its own again. But this time, it was just being controlled by a stronger source of dark magic. "Fly," the Magician of Black Chaos ordered it.

And it flew. With me, down the hall. I was too surprised to be angry. "Ma—" From a glance back, I noticed that he had stayed behind with Sengenjin. He was going to stay and fight! He'll be all right. He's got 2800 attack points, and is one of the strongest magicians in Duel Monsters! He'll be all right. "Magician—"

Won't he?

"Magician of Black Chaos!"

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Aside from the author notes and the title, this chapter was more than 4,300 words long. Yay! Go me! So you can't possibly say that this was short! But if you do... well, I don't know what to say about that!

R&R, everyone!


	12. Alerting All Dark Magicians!: Part 2

Princess of Magic

By Anime2000

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, got it? Okay!

Um... Wow! (blinks and sweatdrops) I really haven't updated in a while, huh? A month or so? I'd like to really thank the readers who are still even reading this. I appreciate your support so much!You reviewers think up such creative reviews:) Well, if I decide to keep my current idea for 'Magic #3', then you guys aren't going tobe very happy with my eviller cliffhangers! XD

Ooh... They took my fic, 'Funny Things' off the 'Net... Well, that's that. Just to be on the safe side, I'll have to reformat my authoress notes... DMG will speak in italics, right?

_Not as frequently as before, though!_

Speaking of legal stuff on , how many strikes do you get before they ban you?

- This little hyphen marks the beginning and ending of a flashback. And the flashback will be in italics, anyway. Italics _rule_!

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This isn't exactly how I planned it, but it'll do...

"Hey! Dark Magician Girl!" I looked back, but kept on running. My lungs ached, and my legs wanted to collapse under me. "Come back!" Then there wouldn't have been a point in running, would there? The hall split into two smaller corridors. I took the hall to the right. Is he still following me? He should be. Hey, that window looks familiar! A left turn would lead me to...

I came to a screeching stop right before I crashed. A dead end? That can't be right! I know I came from here. The Magician of Black Chaos' magic still lingered in the air. I know he was here somewhere, but... how could... A wall stood in the place where a hallway had been. I placed a hand on the cool surface. My palm tingled, almost expectantly for something to happen. Something's not right.

... Uh, this would mean I'm in really big trouble now. Hesitantly, I turned around.

"Gotcha!" A surprised shriek somehow found its way out of me, and my eyes squeezed shut. The wall met my back with a dull 'thunk'. "I think you have something that belongs to me."

I opened my eyes and grinned sheepishly. His hands were pressed against the wall, and I was trapped between them. "...Hi...!"

Amir returned my grin with a sarcastic/impatient smile. "Hi."

-

_My wand came to a stop and fell to the ground. "OW!" And naturally, as gravity would have it, so did I. _

_I got up and dusted myself off. 'Find Dark Magicians,' he says. Exactly how many people wander aimlessly around in the most deserted locations in the halls! I sighed in frustration as I rounded a corner. "And how many of them are Dark Magicians—Oh..." I froze in midstep and stared at the person I almost ran into. Again!_

_Amir blinked and gave me a questioning look. "What?"_

"_Of course you would!" I jumped up and down, clapping my hands together. This was so perfect! For once, he actually showed up when I really, actually needed him!_

_He tilted his head a little to the side and asked, "Are you feeling okay?"_

"_Sengenjin's here, and the Magician of Black Chaos is currently trying to hold him back while I'm looking for help!"_

"_I see," he said, folding his arms._

"_And in case you didn't get it, your help would be greatly appreciated!" _

"_Can't he handle it by himself?"_

_All the excitement suddenly drained out of me. I can't believe it. The only Dark Magician that I find won't help us. What am I supposed to do now? _

_And that's when I did the unthinkable._

_I grabbed his staff. As he lunged for me, I stepped aside and evaded him. "Give that back!"_

_Just for fun, I made a face at him and said, "Nya! If you want it back, you're gonna have to follow me!" He gave me one of those scary Dark Magician Looks—yes, that's what I'll call it now. "C'mon, Dark Magician! Catch me if you can!" I teased him and bolted away at full speed. I am so dead if he actually _does_ catch up to me!_

_He followed me a few seconds later, after he got over the fact that I just ran off with his staff. That helped me because I needed that head start. He was much taller than me, which would mean that his legs were longer, which would mean that he was faster than me! Right..._

_This isn't exactly how I planned it, but it'll do..._

-

I wish I could sink into the wall and come out on the other side. He was so mad at me... He had a good reason to be. This had not turned out very well. But then again, it had been a badly thought up plan to begin with. The Magician of Black Chaos would not be too pleased at the result—

Crud. My eyes blinked wide open. Oh no, oh no, oh no! While I'm wasting time here, what's happening to the Magician of Black Chaos? Is he winning? Is he losing! I was supposed to get help and I totally blew it!

Suddenly Amir sighed and looked away. Sounding a little embarrassed, he mumbled under his breath, "Would you quit giving me those looks? I just want my staff back..." Oh... He misinterpreted my horrified looks and thought that they had been directed to him? So he _does_ have a conscience. My grip grew tighter on the blue-red staff that was clenched in my hands with my wand.

Now that I knew that he wouldn't hurt me, I felt more confident. "I'll give it back, but you have to help me! The Magician of Black—" Two, azure orbs seemed to stare right into my soul.

"I'll think about it..." He leaned in closer to me. It was like something in the back of my head clicked, but the alarm hadn't been set off just yet. My back was already pressed against the wall, but maybe I could back away just a little more... No, I can't. What was he doing! His brow pressed against mine. "But first, there is the small matter of returning a stolen possession..." I stared into his deep, blue eyes. It was like I could just fall into them...

NO!

That's when the mental alarm went off. Very abruptly. I slammed his staff into his chest and shoved him away. He laughed as I sank to the ground, blushing madly. "Jerk!" I yelled at him, wishing I could control the color of my face. "You are so... so..." Due to a lack of a better insult: "Mean!"

He just grinned and folded his arms behind his head. "So... Where is he?"

I blinked. "Who?"

"The Magician of Black Chaos, of course."

That deserved two ellipses.

I just gawked at him for such a long time. "You... you..." So, he would've helped me out anyway? Then what's with all the mind games? He did that on purpose! It was getting so hard to restrain myself. "You are so dead!" I sprung up and would've attacked him with my bare hands... if he hadn't clapped his own hands together around my head. I clawed at empty air.

"I'm gonna help, aren't I?" He snorted, and shook his head in mock pity. "Geez, this must be a little embarrassing for you."

Ignore that last comment. Ignore that last comment... "Yeah, but... But... If you told me sooner, you wouldn't have had to chase me down the hall!" I gave up my futile attempt, and he let go.

"It's not my fault you were impatient and reckless," he reproached me with a teasing smile. "The Magician of Black Chaos is very independent and has defeated opponents much bigger him. I just asked about his competence because half the time, if anyone comes to his aid, he'd just yell at them and tell them that he could've handled it by himself."

"Oh..." I frowned. That was true, but... "He told me to get help!"

Amir shrugged and again and said, "You could've included that, too. But since you didn't, I had to ask the question which led to you stealing my staff and the chase down the hall. So therefore—"He pointed to me. "—This is your fault."

"What?" I gave him a confused stare. "But... I... don't... You..."

He chuckled. "But since we're not talking about who's at fault, and have completely strayed from the most important subject, I'll ask again: Where's the Magician of Black Chaos?"

"Right here!" Amir looked around, then back at me, as if to ask 'where.' Exasperated, I said, "I know that it doesn't make any sense, but he's here! I can feel that his magic is really close. And I remember coming from here! The Magician of Black Chaos put my wand under a spell and sent me to look for Dark Magicians! But now..." I turned around and backed away from the wall. "It's a dead end!"

The blue Dark Magician rested his chin on a hand in thought before nodding and coming to a conclusion. "I understand now. Looks like..." He pointed the green orb on his staff at the wall. "...somebody just pulled a Magical Labyrinth on us."

"'Magical Labyrinth'...?" I asked and looked at the wall carefully. The window behind us cast our shadows on it. They seemed to move slightly, and then more animatedly. Suddenly, they merged together and jumped out at us. A sickly-green colored ghoul emerged from the dark figure. Its blood-red eyes glowed; its talons looked like white daggers. I screamed and stumbled, falling backwards onto the floor.

The emerald orb on Amir's staff flashed brightly. "You should've stayed in defense mode." Magic flew from the sphere in the form of a Dark Magic Attack and enveloped the monster. It screeched and dissolved into tiny particles, like in a Duel. "That solves our pest problem," Amir said and lowered his staff, satisfied.

My wand had fallen out of my hand. I picked it up. "But... how?"

"Whenever someone uses a Magical Labyrinth on the Labyrinth Wall, the Wall Shadow is automatically summoned."

"I knew that," I said and stood up. "But what happened to it? You said something about defense. I thought attack and defense don't matter..."

"They usually don't," he explained to me as he examined the walls around us carefully. "Unless you're aiming to kill. Most Spellcasters can't concentrate their anger and hatred on that single attack, so they can't kill with magic." And _you_ can. What a lovely thought. "But that'll work only if you're a Spellcaster. But if something snaps the spine or severs the head—or any other fatal injury—then that's another story..." He looked at me to ask if I had understood. My horror-struck look told him that I had. He added on, "But technically, when you die, you just shatter into tiny pieces and are sent to the Graveyard to recuperate. Just like a Duel. So I'm not really sure whether that can be rightfully called dying..." He blinked and smacked a fist into his palm. "I get it!"

"What? We can die?" I asked as he took my arm and pulled me away from that wall.

He laughed, "Not exactly what I had in mind. Oh, and you'd be a fool to stand right there."

"Why?"

My question was answered.

A blue, ogre-like giant crashed through the wall. My jaw dropped to the floor. Amir gave me an amused grin. "So, you did find them. Even when a Magical Labyrinth was played... Not bad, Dark Magician Girl."

"What took you so long?" The Magician of Black Chaos appeared in puff of black smoke in front of me. He glanced over at Amir and then yelled, "I told you to find me Dark Magicians! And you only brought me one!"

I hugged him. "Yay! We weren't too late! You're not dead!"

"Wha—what?" He stiffened in my arms. Apparently, he hadn't expected my reaction. Pushing me away, he said, "Geez, it's too hard to stay mad at you." The faintest shade of pink tinged his face. "Where's everyone else?" Sengenjin roared and swung a fist at us. The Magician of Black Chaos shoved me aside and leapt back, narrowly avoiding the blow. "Quit standing around and run!"

"Ah...!" I suddenly found myself darting around in a hallway of absolute anarchy. Not even an inch of the hall was safe for more than a second. Debris flew in every direction at a dangerous speed. Magic exploded in every corner, when they missed their mark. Which was actually very often.

"Are you aiming at me!" Amir exclaimed after barely evading a Chaos Sceptre Attack. Sengenjin took that moment of distraction to his advantage and reached for the blue Dark Magician.

The huge fingers surrounded a dark green box and promptly crushed it to splinters. A barrage of swords rained down and pierced through his hand. Another Magical Box materialized beside me as Sengenjin bellowed a fresh cry of pain. Amir jumped out, and the box vaporized behind him. "Are... are you okay, Amir?" I asked, tearing my eyes away from the Beast-Warrior and to the Dark Magician.

A bolt of dark energy streaked past us. Amir looked at the Magician of Black Chaos in disbelief. He made sure to loudly remind him, "We're your allies!"

"I know that!" the chaos mage snapped, and ran over to us. Sengenjin made a half-hearted attempt to catch him, but his concern was concentrated on his hand. "But there's something weird about this guy! Magic just bounces off of him! That's why I couldn't beat him!"

"'_Bounces_ off of him'!" cried Amir, throwing his hands in the air in exasperation. "That's impossible!"

"Is it?"

Sengenjin had pulled most of the swords from his hand. Amir frowned. "Maybe... But then again, 'how' is more the question... " The blue giant trudged towards us in clumsy steps, obviously still pained by his most recent injury.

I backed away a few steps before my heel touched a wall. "Umm... We're kinda trapped..."

"Tch," Amir frowned. The tension was suffocating. "Any bright ideas?"

"I've got one, but you're gonna have to trust me on this." The Magician of Black Chaos had this weird grin on his face.

Amir and I traded glances and said simultaneously, "We don't."

"Well..." The black Dark Magician's grin widened, as if he had anticipated the reply, and slung an arm around me and an arm around Amir's neck. "Sucks to be you, eh?"

The floor disappeared from under my feet. A strange feeling passed through me. I felt my entire body burning up, like an internal flame had gone wild and turned into a fire.

Then the feeling was gone. _Feeling_ itself was gone.

The moment solid ground was under me, I was pulled into a run. "There has to be better ways of traveling," I heard Amir mutter nearby. "But I don't understand how this could've happened. You have fifty more attack points. Your magic shouldn't have just '_bounced_' off of him!" I shook my head and tried to clear my mind. The floor came into focus. I didn't feel so numb anymore. I felt... shaky. I looked back to see Sengenjin lumbering after us.

"Well, it did," the Magician of Black Chaos replied bluntly.

I found my voice. "But couldn't you have just transported us to other Dark Magicians or something...?" They knew I was talking to the Magician of Black Chaos.

The mage in question nodded slowly and made an abrupt turn to the right. Behind us, I could hear Sengenjin skidding to a halt and coming after us. "But then he would continue wrecking the place, and we really don't want that, would we? Besides, we found him. And he's not getting away!"

"_Him?_" I asked as he made another sharp turn and stopped. "I'm more worried about us!"

And of course, he didn't seem to hear me. "So what do we do about this? I still say we need more Dark Magicians _here._ After all, this is one of the most deserted parts of this labyrinth, so no one should get hurt..." Amir and I nodded. "But the problem is how do we get more of us here?"

"If we can't send a Dark Magician here, then we'll have to send one _there_. Simply to lead them here, I guess." Amir raised his staff. From the emerald orb formed a black mist. It swirled around in front of us and took shape. Into a skeleton robed in a dark cloak. "I personally prefer this mode of transportation," he said with a smirk. The chaos mage shrugged and made a comment about how he didn't really care.

"What do you mean 'send one _there_'?" I asked, looking around. "Who?" Then I realized what they were talking about and groaned. "You can't be serious..."

Grinning sheepishly, the Magician of Black Chaos said, "You can track down Dark Magicians really easily... And... Let's be honest... It'd be a lot easier to fight Sengenjin without you always getting in the way!"

"What?" I sweatdropped.

A huge shadow fell on us. Which means that Sengenjin found us. "Like right now. GO!" He grabbed a handful of my cape and hurled me into the Black Magic Curtain.

"Wait! Magician of Black Chaos! Amir!" I shrieked as I tumbled uncontrollably in the darkness. With every passing second, I was getting farther and father away. Black, enigmatic magic spun around me, taking my energy like a payment of crossing through. But I didn't want to go! I wanted to help!

Then again, he did say that it would be more helpful if I were out of the way...

Geez... I sighed and gave up, letting my magic slip away. It would be returned after I emerged from the other side. And then what? How would I be able to find everyone I needed _and_ get back in time to save them... They'll be okay, right? I closed my eyes as the rest of my energy left me. It's not fair. What can I do besides _find_ help?

With a blinding flash of light, I was flung out into the open again. I crashed into the floor and rolled to a stop. I surveyed my surroundings. It was so bright and... and... Hmph, if the Magician of Black Chaos hadn't thrown me so carelessly, I would've have a much more graceful landing!

Dizziness hit me the second I got up. My head was pounding. An explosion erupted in a hallway nearby. The ground shook violently, like an earthquake. I rushed to the scene. If this headache was a side effect from a powerful attack of dark magic, then would that mean I didn't get transported correctly to... somewhere else?

I made a left turn and stopped. Oh Ra, this was impossible... Three Duel Monsters were fighting: One actual Dark Magician, one chaos Dark Magician, and a blue giant.

Sengenjin swung a fist at the Dark Magician. He summoned a shield, which effectively slowed down the punch enough to give him time to jump out of the way.

How could this have happened! This entire picture was wrong! Sengenjin wasn't supposed to be here!

"Master!" I yelled at the purple Dark Magician. He looked towards my direction, surprised, but carried out his attack anyway. Wait; his attack points weren't high enough... If Sengenjin's attack points were fifty less than the Magician of Black Chaos', then he should have 2750, right?

The Dark Magic Attack split in half and streamed away in different directions the second it hit the ogre-like beast. Sengenjin was completely unaffected! Master frowned and dodged another one of Sengenjin's wild blows and landed next to me. He slammed a turquoise-colored book shut and said an incantation that made it disappear. So he used the Book of Secret Arts to boost his attack points to 2800. But it still didn't work...!

"Dark Magician Girl, why are you here?"

"I..." I was very confused. "I... The Magician of Black Chaos...! And Amir; he used the Black Magic Curtain to send me here. I was supposed to find you or other Dark Magicians, but... but..." I looked around, feeling extremely weak and useless and covered my mouth, muffling my next sentence. I mumbled, "I... I think I'm too late..." If Sengenjin was already here, then did that mean that the two Dark Magicians that I had left... lost?

He knew what I meant instantly. Shaking his head slowly, he said, "No... that's—"

A blast of dark magic flew above us and dived downward, colliding into Sengenjin. "Forgive me for interrupting you, but this is hardly the time to be holding a conversation," the Chaos Command Magician said, lowering his scepter. He nodded to his right and motioned for us to come as started to run. Master took my hand and followed him. I took one last glance back at Sengenjin, who rubbed his head and dumbly looked around, before focusing back to the main problem.

"So, do you think...?"

"No," The Chaos Command Magician was the one that answered my half-spoken question. He knew I was talking about the Magician of Black Chaos and Amir. "Think logically," he said, leading us to a smaller hallway and finally stopping. "Could two Dark Magicians be defeated so utterly by a completely brainless ogre that it would still have energy to attack more mages of the same, or possibly greater, strength?"

I blinked at that long sentence. "Well... I guess Sengenjin should be tired by now, IF he did beat them," I said thoughtfully. Master nodded in approval, and I went on, "And... there's no way that two Dark Magicians could be beaten so easily and quickly! Do you think it's possible that Sengenjin got away from them?"

"_And_," Master added on, "Sengenjin isn't as dense as one would have hoped."

"How unfortunate," replied the other Dark Magician absently as if he was in deep thought and barely heard it. "Perhaps we underestimated our foe this time." He turned to me and said abruptly, "Dark Magician Girl, can you locate Amir and the Magician of Black Chaos?"

"Um... yeah, I'm pretty sure I can," I said and concentrated on the traces of dark magic in the air. The strongest magic that I could sense radiated from the Chaos Command Magician and Master. They were the hardest to ignore, but I managed to find another source. It was faint, but I could feel where it was coming from. I started running. Looking back over my shoulder, I yelled to the two mages, "Come on! Before I lose the source!"

They didn't need to be told twice. I heard their footsteps behind me. My heart pounded wildly, and everything around me was a blur. My grip on that single magical thread was weakening. If I could just hold on for a few minutes more...

"There!"

I stared at the scene, dumbfounded. There was one more Dark Magician, thank goodness.

But there was also another Sengenjin.

"Yo!" The Magician of Black Chaos glanced towards us and jumped away. A golden-gilded axe imbedded itself less than a second later where he had been standing. "There's two of them! All this time—there's been two of them! Black Magician just got chased down here by that one, and... and..." He noticed the looks Master, the Chaos Command Magician, and I were giving each other. "What's wrong?"

"That makes more sense if there are multiple Sengenjins running around," Master frowned. "But if that's the case, then shouldn't there be...?"

The ground shook, but not only from the two Sengenjins in front of us. The Magician of Black Chaos' gaze darted around the huge hallway but finally stopped behind us. A dangerous expression appeared on his face. I didn't need to turn around to know who was standing behind us. "Three of them, you mean?"

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It took me too long, I know, I know. (sighs) R&R! 


	13. Alerting All Dark Magicians!: Conclusion

Princess of Magic

By Anime-2000

Disclaimer: Didn't own it last chapter. Don't own it now!

Yes, yes. I'm late with the update. Feel free to throw rotten tomatoes at Anime… Well, not really, but I'm very sorry for leaving you all in suspense. To my older readers and to the newer ones, forgive Anime.

Please?

Okay, so… I haven't updated in what, four—five months? Or however many months it's been… . Oi… Writer's block, lack of self confidence in writing, realization of how many freakin' words there were in the English language… and changes in the plot so many times that I'm positive that there will be some sort of gaping plot hole in the story… Myerg, now I'm scared to write this chapter! I hope I haven't gotten too rusty at writing… If anyone sees anything wrong or any weird mistakes or such, please tell me! You won't be the first to find one!

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There's three of them! There's been three of them this whole time! They're so strong! They aren't the smartest opponents I've ever faced, but I have _no_ idea what we're going to do. Magic had no effect on them. Even attack points don't matter! 

"Master!" Two Sengenjins had cornered him. Master was able to blast one of them back with a Dark Magic Attack. Black Magician finished the job with another magical attack that slammed the Sengenjin face first into the floor. There was a sudden explosion of black magic, leaving an ebony cloud obscuring the scene. I bit my lower lip. I could barely see the two magicians, but the two blue hulks, I could see fine. Just as I was about to run into the haze, the Magician of Black Chaos suddenly appeared out of the smoke and raised his staff above his head. "Wait—magic doesn't work!" I yelled at him.

"Don't you think I know that!" he shouted as he smashed his staff down hard on the head of the standing Sengenjin. "Tch!" He scowled as Sengenjin stumbled out of the smoke with a dazed expression on his face. The level-eight chaos mage landed on the floor but sprang back at his enemy. "Why can't we get rid of you!" With a single swing of his staff, he sent the monster flying backwards through a wall across the hallway.

I stared at him with large eyes. My jaw was ready to fall to the ground. Wow… I had no idea that he was really _that_ strong. So is it possible to convert magic to raw strength? I mean, the Magician of Black Chaos is way to thin to be able to pack such power into a single physical blow!

Master coughed and waved some smoke away from his face as he walked up to the Magician of Black Chaos. "We should have thought up a plan first—before rushing into battle," he told him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "For now, I suggest we retreat."

The other magician whirled around and jerked away from his hand. "Are you kidding me?" he snapped. "I will not run away like—"

At once, all three Sengenjins roared and charged at us. "They're going to crush us!" I squeaked, waving my arms around, trying to get the attention of my fellow Dark Magicians.

"Magical Silk Hats!" I looked around at the sound of Master's voice and saw three black hats, one appearing over Amir, one over Black Magician, and one over Master and the Magician of Black Chaos. Then, everything turned black as the fourth dropped over me.

All the sudden, I felt someone's elbow jab into my back. "OW—mf!" My cry was muffled when an arm bumped into my face.

"Ouch! Who bit me!" I sweatdropped. Oops. I pushed Black Magician away, but then someone else crashed into me. This was confusing! What's going on!

"What the heck!"

"Dark Magician, you _moron_!"

I waved my arms, accidentally hitting someone as I yelled, "He is not!" I began to realize what had happened as a foot jerked under me and caused me to lose my balance. Hey, at least I took two other magicians down with me.

The entire magical hat split at the seams.

"Ngh!" I grunted as my chin hit the ground first, followed by the rest of my body. Rubbing my jaw, I sat up and watched the other magicians shout at each other. Ah haaah… And this is supposed to be the most elite dark magic group in the entire Shadow Realm because…?

"I can't believe you crammed us all in one stupid hat!" The Magician of Black Chaos was furious.

Master, who was one of the two unfortunate Dark Magicians who I dragged down with me, stood up, ran a hand through his hair and closed his eyes. A sign that he was extremely frustrated and that he was trying very hard to either A) ignore you or B) not hit you really, really hard. "Hmm… well if you had a better idea, it's too late now. But we wouldn't have had to deal with that if we had left while we still had a chance, instead of just standing around because of your stubborn pride." He opened his eyes and was quiet for a moment. "Of course, you never listen to me anyways."

The Magician of Black Chaos' own magenta orbs flashed dangerously. His grip on his staff tightened, and he said through gritted teeth, "You have a lot of nerve, Dark Magician." There was an intense electrical atmosphere that crackled around them. I had no doubt whatsoever that a fight would start if something wasn't done soon, but I was kind of… too scared to try to stop them.

At least Black Magician wasn't. He stepped right in between them and pushed them farther away from each other. "Exactly what is this argument supposed to accomplish? You don't argue with each other on the same side of a Dueling field, and you certainly can't argue in the middle of battle!"

"Middle of battle!" the chaos mage cried, slamming his staff against the wall behind him. It left a huge crack in the stone as tiny rock fragments flew out in different directions. "We are _not_ in battle at this moment, are we? We're hiding like cowards!"

"At least now we know that you can fit… five Dark Magicians in silk hat."

We all stared at Amir. He, the other unlucky mage, sat next to me. How the heck can he come up with something as random as that when everyone around him was so tense and edgy? He just shrugged and got up. "But…" He looked a little disappointed. "With all the commotion, I wasn't able to try out my special Dark Magic Attack."

"'Special'…?" I asked, slowly getting up, too.

He nodded thoughtfully. "It allows me to destroy all magic and trap cards, as long as I know how many there are. In a normal Duel with Duelists, it always works out because they always announce a card before they set it down, and you always know how many cards are on the field. Now, though… I'm not sure about the exact number…"

The Magician of Black Chaos seemed to have calmed down. "And where is this leading to, Amir?"

"Metal Morph," Master stated flatly. "I understand now. But even if all three were equipped with it, wouldn't the metal show?"

"That's what I was thinking," said the blue Dark Magician, shrugging again. "So there's probably another spell that's been cast to hide it. It all makes sense, why magic doesn't work, I mean."

I raised my hand and waved it around a little. Master gave me a nod, and I asked, "What about Metal Morph? What does it do?"

"You weren't paying attention when I explained it to you two months ago, were you?" I blushed and looked up at the ceiling. But it was boring! I spent the entire day reading about magic and history and stuff like that. He can't expect me to remember everything I 'learned' that day! Master just gave me one of his simple explanations: "A while ago—it was in Duelist Kingdom…?" When the others nodded, he continued, "monster types had weaknesses, as well as strengths." Luckily for me, this time, he gave more details, "For example, ground monsters were weak against flying types. That basically meant that their attacks did nothing."

"Like now!" I said, twirling my wand around. I threw it in the air and caught it. "And Metal Morph changes the Monsters into metal-types, and us Spellcasters can't do a lot of damage to them because they're immune to magic!" I threw it in the air again.

This time, Master caught it. "Exactly, but it also increases their attack power," he said, twirling it around in his hand much more skillfully than I had. Fooey, he had longer fingers. "I wonder why it would work now. Tch, of all the times…"

The Magician of Black Chaos snatched it out of his hand and slapped it against his own palm. "Hey, we get rid of Metal Morph, we get rid of them." He smirked at Master, and it was returned with a nod. Heh, I guess they've forgiven each other. It's truly amazing how we Dark Magicians are able to communicate so well with such subtle signals like a nod or a smile.

Amir pulled it out of his hand and tapped the wand against my helmet. "So you guys can leave that to me." I ended the cycle by reclaiming my wand.

"_Why are we diversions?" I asked, pointing to Master and myself. "What about the Chaos Command…Magician…?" I looked around. "Where is he?"_

_The others were just as astonished as I was to discover the absence of a Dark Magician. "Not dead, hopefully?" said Black Magician._

I took a deep breath and exhaled. Master watched me in silence, but I wish he would say something. Something reassuring would be nice. I didn't realize how cold it was in this hall until now and had to fold my arms across my chest to keep them from shivering. But the cold wasn't the only reason they're shaking. There were so many things that could go wrong! I guess he knew that too. "So…" I whispered, breathing short and shallow breaths. "Sooo…" I peeked at the three Sengenjins, from behind the wall. They were searching around for us, but they really had no idea we were here. Master had used a masking spell to hide our presence. "Um…" I felt Master's hand drop on my head, and I turned to face him.

"Relax," he said, giving my visor a tap. It didn't fall over my eyes, as I would have expected. Now it hung crooked over one side of my head. As I straightened it, he said, "I hope you are learning something from this."

And as simple as that, he walked out of our hiding place. Calmly. Out in the open. He even had his hands behind his back, but his staff was clasped firmly in his fingers. "Wait, Master!" I hurried after him. He raised an arm and guided me behind him just as one of the Segenjins looked towards our general direction.

"Dark Magician!" I recognized the voice of one of the Sengenjins. It belonged to the one that was playing chess with Amir. "You here—alone?"

Beads of sweat started forming on my face, but I didn't do anything. I couldn't make any sudden movements. They saw Master, but they didn't see me. "You look familiar," said Master, changing the subject altogether. "Weren't you the one that attacked us in the hallway—my apprentice and I?"

They chuckled darkly amongst themselves. "No, was me," a different one said, laughing.

"I see," said Master. "Not that I can tell you apart anyway." When they didn't respond, he added, "But congratulations—you did take us by surprise."

Almost… Almost…

"The element of surprise is quite useful, wouldn't you agree…" he unclasped his hands and lowered his gaze as his voice became softer and softer.

Now!

"… Dark Magician Girl?"

I leapt up over Master and swung my wand from my left to my right to execute my attack. "Dark Burning Attack!" They gave surprised howls as my magic illuminated the hallway. It wouldn't do any serious damage to them, but it was enough to blind them. For the moment— "Neh—?"

Master grabbed my hand and practically jerked me out of the air.

"Should—shouldn't we wait a little, so they actually see where we're going?" I asked as he pulled me into a run.

"No, they see us." I risked a glance back. Eeeg, looks like my teacher was right again. It was obvious, though. The pillars in the hallway were trembling. They're going to give out at any moment, aren't they?

"Ah—wait!" I couldn't keep up with him anymore! I missed a step. To my surprise, Master turned around and caught me. He held me closely and sprang away just as I heard Amir's voice:

"Dark Magic Attack!"

I blushed, but I clung on to Master and looked over my shoulder. A huge ball of dark energy engulfed the three Sengenjins. In the middle of all that black light, I saw the seemingly normal outer layer that covered the Sengenjins evaporate into nothing, leaving a shiny metal coat. Then that, too, vanished. After that, all that were left were three, normal Beast-Warriors. With attack points of 2750. The Magician of Black Chaos should have no problem destroying them now.

Master landed just as the aforementioned chaos magician launched a Chaos Sceptre Attack at those three monsters. Wild, horrified yells came from the two remaining Sengenjins as one of them disappeared in the attack—sent to the Graveyard! I hugged my teacher. "Yay! We did it! Just two more to go!"

He smiled and breathed a sigh of relief. "Finally."

Suddenly, his face darkened. His eyes widened and he looked to his right. "Go!" He forcefully shoved me away. I fell sideways. When I got up, I saw why he had pushed me aside like that.

"Ah—MASTER!" Heavy metal chains from an unknown source had wrapped themselves around him. Master jerked his arm away, but it was no use. "What… What do I—I do?" I stammered helplessly.

He had stopped struggling as the chains pulled him into the air. "Dark Magician Girl, _run_!"

I hesitated for a moment before I finally turned around and ran. The chains had appeared everywhere and were snaking out from all directions. Yet none of them even _touched_ either of the two Sengenjins! Amir evaded two assaults, but the third knocked his staff out of his hand. "No, I need that!" All at once, at least a dozen metal links wound around him, stopping him in his tracks. He made a futile attempt to regain his weapon. Ra, it was a foot out of his reach. "Dark Magician Girl!" Amir called out to me. "Get my staff!"

"Why!" I shrieked as I sprinted down the hall in zigzags as chains flew at me from random directions.

"Well, let's see," he said, his face a mask of fake contemplation._ "Because I can't do my Dark Magic Attack without it!"_

GEEZ! How was I supposed to know that? And how does he find time to be sarcastic in this mess?

"Almost there!" I gasped and stretched out an arm for the blue-red staff. Four meters… One meter… Metal pooled in front of me and surged up into the air. I froze. A wall rose before me. Oh man, it was made up of at least hundreds chains linked together… I gaped at it and backed away. It was almost like a huge tidal wave.

Something exploded beneath my feet and sent me soaring high above the wall of chains. I recognized it as a Chaos Sceptre Attack and looked around frantically for the Magician of Black Chaos. I saw a black figure sitting on the ground and knew it was him. "What are you doing! Magician—no, RUN!" I screamed at him.

Then I saw the chains that were holding him down. He just grinned and saluted me.

I felt like crying. The metal wave that was intended for me crashed down on him.

"UNG!" Pain shot through my skull as I landed on my back. I rubbed my head and saw several blurry gray snakes speeding towards me. Closing my eyes, I tried to suppress the pain in my head. What's the use? I might as well give up.

"Dark Magician Girl!" My eyes blinked open at Amir's voice. The chains pounded themselves against some invisible barrier surrounding me. I looked to my right and saw Amir, who was still trapped. He held a hand in front of him, holding the barrier up between the chains and me. "Get up and go!" All I could manage was a nod and a word of thanks.

Amir was a jerk, but I suddenly I felt a rush of gratitude and respect for him as I ran down the hall. The two Sengenjins were right in front of me. How in Ra's name would I be able to get past them? They were so big, and they took up at least ¾ of the hallway! I heard a rattle of metal behind me. I looked and saw that there were more chains flying after me. One of them shot out at me at an incredible speed. I leapt to the side to avoid it, but I felt it graze the side of my neck. It sped past, a glint of gold sparkling at the tip. I slapped a hand to my collarbone, my fingers searching for a familiar metallic surface. Shoot, it ripped my necklace right off my neck!

CLANG!

I risked another look and stopped. All of the chains had been slammed into the wall by a Dark Magic Attack! "Black Magician!" I exclaimed, but all he did was wave an arm at me. He wanted me to run, too?

They were in trouble! All of them! Why won't they at least let me help them! I know I can't do a lot. But they've all helped me! They've all risked their lives for me. I can't leave them like this.

Sengenjins one and two had decided to take advantage of the situation. They lumbered towards me and Black Magician, who was slowly becoming overwhelmed by reinforcements. The chains multiplied in numbers. Where are they coming from?

"Dark Burning Attack!" I fired my attack at the Sengenjins. They blocked it with their huge arms. My magic did minimum damage before disappearing, but at least they stopped. "They can't move because of this cheap trick!" I said to them, loudly and firmly, "but I can!"

All the Dark Magicians were yelling now, but I wasn't sure at who. At me, each other, or the blue twins? Their voices blended with the clanks of the chains. "I'm the last Dark Magician standing—" I had no doubt that Black Magician had been caught, too. "—so are you going to let me get away or what?"

The Sengenjins looked at each other and then at me. I had to hurry, or else I'll get ensnared with the others before I even get a chance to lure the two Sengenjins away. "Are you two too slow and stupid to catch a mere student of magic?" I was surprised by how venomous and spiteful my own words sounded. My surroundings seemed to become quieter and quieter, and I suddenly cried, "If you can catch me, you'll have me in your clutches, too. If you don't, then you _will_ regret it!"

Everything came to a standstill. Nothing moved. I couldn't hear anything other than my shallow breaths and the frantic beating of my own heart.

"If you can catch me," I repeated and bolted past them. Time had regained control of the scene, and the noise resumed. The hallway trembled. They took my bait. I felt relieved even though I was in more danger than before. At least Master and the others won't have to worry about the two Sengenjins.

Hey, maybe they'll come rescue me because I don't know what I'm going to do now!

Just as I veered down another, bigger corridor in this labyrinth, I caught a glimpse of my pursuers. They were a lot closer than I had anticipated. Agh, I could only run for my life for so long! I have to think up a plan now! But what!

I jumped up as an enormous hand smashed down into the ground behind me. I shrieked and held my hands out to catch myself. My palms hit the cold floor with full force; painful shocks ran up my arm, and they crumpled beneath me. They throbbed painfully, but I don't think they were broken. I raised my raised hand up to cast an invisibility spell on myself. Nothing happened.

"Oh no," I gasped, looking at my hand in panic. I didn't have the energy or magic to spend on spells anymore! I looked past my fingers and saw one of the Sengenjins coming closer. I tried to move away, but a blue first punched me. It was like a rock colliding into my side! Pain, pain, PAIN!

I couldn't scream. All the air was forced out of my lungs before I had a chance to. I was sailing through the air. It would be a matter of time until I would inevitably smash into a wall!

"Oof!" I didn't. Instead, I hurtled into something soft—warm. Stars clouded my vision, but I thought I recognized that face. Or at least the hat. He caught me. I can't believe it. He actually _caught_ me…!"

"Chaos… Command Magician?" I mumbled, lifting my head up from his arm.

He ignored me and looked to his right. "Dark Sage, sir, now would be an excellent time to finish them off."

Dark Sage…? I let my head drop back on the Chaos Command Magician's arm and saw the oldest of all Dark Magicians. "Ah, and here comes Dark Paladin!" I heard him exclaim jovially. "Dark Magician Girl, you're going to be fine."

"Are you going to faint?" the Chaos Command Magician asked me.

I blinked and shook my head. "Um… No, I'm fine—?"

"Good." He promptly dropped me.

I sat up, furious with myself for not seeing that coming and angry with him for dropping me. "At least give me a warning before you do that!" I didn't need more unnecessary injuries!

"Oh, I doubt that it will happen again." The Chaos Command Magician merely shrugged and directed his attention to the center of the hallway, where the Sengenjins and the two high-leveled Dark Magicians stood. Hmph, and we were worried about him! He was with the Dark Sage from the Magical Silk Hat incident to now, huh? But why? Maybe he went to get help…

"You trick us! You plan to destroy us all along!" snarled one of the Sengenjin. "Old man, you pay for trick!" He lunged at the Dark Sage. I was ready to jump to my feet to help the older magician, but the Chaos Command Magician stopped me as I rose on one knee. He held my cape in his hand and pulled lightly. I looked at him incredulously. His expression was as blank as ever. Did he want something to happen to the Dark Sage?

A strangled cry reached my ears. The Sengenjin who had been about to attack the Dark Sage was hovering in high in the air. The Beast-Warrior was a giant compared to the sage, but there was a look of fear and confusion on his face while Dark Sage's countenance was stern and unforgiving. "You were the ones who went back on your word," he told him, bringing his hand up and jerking it down again. With it came the Sengenjin, but he stopped a few feet above the ground, his eyes level with the mage's. "You were told not to harm the girl."

"She was fool!" retorted the giant as he bared his crooked teeth. "She challenged us! We follow."

The Dark Sage looked at me. I felt strangely alone and isolated from everything that was warm and reassuring. It was a very awkward position for me to be in, and I wanted to bolt away. My legs felt like rock. My feet seemed to have been cemented into the floor. Even my arms wouldn't move. Dark Sage's glare was no less intimidating than Master's. "Is this true, Dark Magician Girl?"

"I…I'm…" I couldn't find the right words. Everything sounded strange in my head. 'Yes, but I was scared for everyone else!' No, that wouldn't work. 'No, what are you talking about?' What a lie. What was wrong with me? Why couldn't I tell him what had happened? My tongue might as well have been paralyzed with the rest of my body! "I… I was—Um…" I stammered on, but was silenced by a quick flick of a wrist.

"Very well," Dark Sage said, waving his hand again as if to brush off a smudge from an invisible window between Sengenjin and himself. The giant fell to the ground with a ground-shaking thump. "Your duty is over. You may leave." He turned around and walked away.

Duty? What did he mean by that?My breathcaught.Oh! Are you telling me that… Oh Ra, it all comes together now! After all these years, it's been the Dark Sage, the oldest Dark Magician—the wisest. He's been hiring these assassins to attack the Dark Magicians!

I recovered from my temporary frozen state and stood up. "Dark Sage, what's this… _Why?_" I asked him, trying to keep my voice from rising, both in volume and in pitch.

"Dark Magician Girl." The elderly mage stopped in front of me. The look on his face was solemn, different how I usually saw him. "I suppose you want an explanation now." I nodded vigorously, and his brows relaxed. He seemed to be returning to his old self again. "Ha, youngsters are always full of curiosity. That's a good—"

There was a sudden roar behind the Dark Sage and he looked over his shoulder. I looked around him. Little blue particles floated away from a Sengenjin. Then, the monster shattered into thousands more. Dark Paladin rested the blade of his sword on the floor and watched the remaining Sengenji apathetically. He then raised his sword and pointed it at him. "Your comrade tried to attack them," he told him. "Do you dare try your luck?"

Sengenjin must not have wanted to. He ran as fast as those tiny legs could carry him. Soon, he was gone. I sighed. Hopefully, I'll never see him or the other two ever again!

"Mercy," said the Chaos Command Magician, bemused. "Don't you usually finish off your opponents with none?"

Dark Paladin was silent as he jabbed his sword into the ground again and stared at his gauntlets. Finally, he said, "That is my decision."

I relaxed. All the danger had passed, but my questions weren't answered. "Why did you hire them anyway?" I asked the Dark Sage.

"How else to test the Dark Magicians' abilities and their progress?"

If he hadhit me with his staff, I would've felt the same way I did now. That unintentional blow was… unexpected. "'Test'!" My voice was shrill with disbelief. "Just a test…! Don't you think that's kinda… cruel!"

He laughed and patted me on the head. "Perhaps, but those boys have driven me up the walls enough to deserve it, no?"

I shook my head almost as violently as I had nodded. "NO!" I whirled around to face the Chaos Command Magician. "And you were in on it, too? And Dark Paladin!" I jabbed a finger to the magicial swordsman.

"I simply supply all the information and give advice when needed," said the chaos magician. "I'm usually a part of the group of Dark Magicians, as I was before the Magical Hats spell had been cast. At that time, I had to consult the Dark Sage… about the rest of the plan." He was thoughtful for a moment and then added, "Oh yes. I am responsible for the Magical Labyrinth and the Nightmare Spell, the chains. They should be disappearing about now. The labyrinth, I'm afraid will stay."

Spinning around, I asked, "And Dark Paladin!"

"Last resort," replied the Dark Sage. I stared at the fusion monster's profile, amazed that he—all of them!—could keep such a cool composure when I was interrogating them so endlessly. "He comes in when the assassins are too much for the others to handle." Dark Sage looked proud as he announced, "And surprisingly, after all these years, we haven't had to use him yet!"

"And what about you?" I placed my hands on my hips. "You're the one who hires the assassins to begin with, aren't you?"

"Well, no," admitted the old magician. "I come up with the plans. The Metal Morph, a stroke of genius, wouldn't you say? It took a while to get that magic resistant metal to work again, but it was worth it. Chaos Command Magician scouts out the potential opponents for my former student and the others. And…" He paused, thinking. "He also keeps an eye on the others, making sure that everything is under control. This man is certainly a valuable asset to the entire thing!" The Chaos Command Magician accepted the praise with a half-hearted wave of a hand.

I guess that explains the phantom Spellcaster that Master and I had sensed in the hallway. That must have been the Chaos Command Magician. "But I don't get one thing. You used that masking spell in the hallway, remember? During… Amir's Duel."

Nodding, Chaos Command Magician said, "Yes, I believe there was a clandestine Duel in the hallway before that. Over some petty issue, was there not?"

My face was turning red. I glanced down at my feet and looked up, frowning. Hmph. Petty, he says! And what does clandestine mean? "Well, I felt your magic. But it was different from that time I found you with Master and that third Sengenjin! In fact," I said, opening my senses and beginning to answer my own question. "It's different now, too."

The Chaos Command Magician just looked at his scepter. "Mm, well that's easy to explain. I am a light Spellcaster." He held the wand in front of him, and the red jewel set in the center gleamed brightly with light magic. I shielded my eyes from the brilliance as he went on, "Of course my magic would differ from the standard Dark Magician's. I used a masking spell during the second time as well, but you and Dark Magician were both too preoccupied with the Sengenjin to notice it. And at the time, dark magic was being released everywhere because of battle. It would amaze me to no end if you had actually been able to discover that I was the only magician with a light aura." The light faded as he lowered his scepter. "Will that be all the questions?"

I frowned but nodded. "I'm still confused, but I can't think of any more. Wait. Isn't there some other reason for all this? You can't just say that it was only to test them!"

"When close friends only see each other when they fight one another, don't you think that their friendship would begin to die?" asked the Dark Sage somberly. I didn't say anything. "The same goes for Dark Magicians. Have you seen the animosity between them?" Amir and Master, you mean? "Can't you tell that they're growing distant with one another? They only come to this tournament to fight. Victories and defeats push them further away. We are a very competitive group of magicians, you know."

"So if they fight together instead of with each other, then that'll revive some bond?" I wasn't sure if I understood that concept. "I know that Yugi and Joey fight together to beat strong opponents. They stick up for one another, and even when they are rivals, it's usually a friendly battle that doesn't cost either Duelist anything. But fighting isn't everything. They understand each other's feelings and dreams and they can enjoy and laugh over the little things that make life fun." Like a day at the local arcade! I wish they had more of those in the Shadow Realm!

The other magicians were quiet when I finished telling my logic.

With a cheerful grin, I said, "Why not have a party instead?"

Seriously, they looked at each other with the strangest expressions, like they were trying to hold back an uncontrollable urge to laugh. So much for that idea. "Well, I suppose we could hold some get-together at my library every year," said the old sage as he walked past me and the Chaos Command Magician.

"If they don't find that idea lame," said the light magician. I swear, he was about to laugh! If he does, that'll the first time I've ever seen him do that. It's like Master all over again!

"Don't worry, Dark Magician Girl," said Dark Paladin, who had appeared next to me. I was surprised to see that he was smiling. It was just one of those littlesmiles a parent would have on their face when their child proudly tells them a cute joke that they had just made up. "We'll think about it. Meanwhile, promise you won't tell the others about what you have learned today."

"O-kay!" I said and held a hand up to him. He stared at it for a moment, as if wondering what I was doing, then grasped it and shook. I waved as he followed the Dark Sage, leaving the Chaos Command Magician and me.

I heard footsteps and turned around. "Dark Magician Girl!" Master, the Magician of Black Chaos, Amir and the Black Magician hurried towards me.

"What in both worlds happened!" demanded the Magician of Black Chaos.

"Would you believe that she defeated two Sengenjins by herself?" asked the other chaos mage. Silence. Oh what, come on. Humor me a little, will you? "Then, Dark Paladin came and saved her."

"And where were you?" snapped the higher-leveled magician.

"Negotiating what time the next round would commence." We gawked at him in disbelief, me because I didn't know whether he had the time to do it or not. "Hmm, andwhat about the time schedule? In truth, if they disqualified every Dark Magician involved in this incident, it would be over by sunset. Congratulations, Dark Magician, Magician of Black Chaos, Amir, and Dark Magician Girl; you have qualified for round three. Please report outside as soon as possible." He sounded like a tournament official again. I laughed.

The Chaos Command Magician was about to leave when Black Magician abruptly asked, "Wait, these halls have been altered so many times by that Magical Labyrinth. How do we get out?"

"…" We all waited anxiously for an answer. "You have my deepest sympathy."

All four of us had to keep the Magician of Black Chaos from attacking him.

* * *

That's the end of the 'Alerting All Dark Magicians' part of the story. Next chapter will be a—hopefully—smooth transitioning back to the tournament and everything else. The hardest part of writing this chapter—besides the whole going back to writing thing itself—was trying to get a little deeper into the characters' personalities without completely losing their original characteristics and qualities that everyone loves so much. 

I'm very sorry. I've kept you guys waiting for months, and this is all I have to show for it. Well, you have fourteen pages of… fanfiction, at least!

Myerg, what a pain, yet I loved writing it! Huh, maybe I just enjoy torturing myself or something… 0.0;;

Please R&R!


	14. Expect the Unexpected

Princess of Magic

By Anime-2000

Disclaimer: Ummm… I'm out of creative ideas for disclaimers so um… Yeah, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!…

Wai! I'm ecstatic over the positive response I got from all of you! Thank you so much everyone! Oh and please forgive me for any stupid, weird mistakes you may find. I just realized that I said I was updating today, and I scanned over it... but that's about it, so if there are any mistakes you think I should change, please say so!

* * *

Dark Sage had wanted a word with Amir, so he left with the Chaos Command Magician, who had relayed the message. That still left three angry Dark Magicians. They had no problem telling me what a fool I was for pulling that stunt. I wasn't exactly called an idiot, but I got the message. Everyone was shouting at me all at once, and they weren't giving me a chance to even finish a complete sentence. Well, that makes it four. Now, I'm angry, too.

"I couldn't leave you guys with _all_ the danger!" I finally said in my defense, swinging my wand to my side to emphasize _'all.'_ "That would've been cowardly of me, and you already had so much to worry about."

"They were nothing! We're full-fledged mages. We can handle the minor little problems like that!" countered the Magician of Black Chaos.

Black Magician folded his arms and said a little less sharply, "Please remember that you are an apprentice, and you do not need to risk your own life for ours."

I know that they were trying to say something, but they just couldn't—"Nobody told you to be noble!" Trust the Magician of Black Chaos to blurt that out. "You're not strong enough!" I blinked a few times before quickly trying to divert my attention to my wand, rubbing at an invisible blotch on the golden swirl. No matter how hard I tried, I wasn't able to hold back a hurt expression. But he black-haired magician saw it. He wouldn't have apologized so quickly if he hadn't. "Look, I didn't mean it that way," he said with a softer voice. "Moron, we were more worried about you than anything else."

"About me?" I asked, looking up through my lashes at him. There was stillness in the air. Ra, my voice was all heavy with emotion, but the tears that had threatened to spill stayed in my eyes. Barely. "You were worried about me?" I bit my lower lip and gave a shuddering sigh.

The Magician of Black Chaos gave a startled "Eh?" and stammered, "No, we're serious! I—I mean… we're not really that… What I mean to say is…" He glowered at me for a few seconds and then gave a frustrated grunt and directed his gaze to a crack in the wall.

"Magician of Black Chaos, you aren't used to female emotions, are you?" asked Master with an exasperated look on his face. "Will you two leave us alone for a few minutes?" The other two Dark Magicians shot him quizzical looks, but they followed his orders without another word. When I couldn't hear their footsteps anymore, he sighed and turned to me. "Dark Magician Girl, look at me."

I shook my head. Tch, since when was I such a crybaby? There was a heavy weight in my chest, like a stone had been tied to my heart. I pressed my arm against my eyes, hoping to block my tears from streaming down my face.

"What have I said about hiding behind your armor? If it alleviates the pain, then cry. There's no shame it that." He took my arm and slowly pulled it away from my head. I remembered the incident from earlier today and managed a smile.

A little of the weight dragging down on me disappeared. "Thank you."

"The others might wonder if we had been attacked. We should go now."

I coughed as I choked back a laugh. My teacher stared, his expression unreadable. But I bet I surprised him. "Uh… Actually, I don't think the Sengenjins will be bothering us anymore," I said, tracing a crack in the floor with my foot. Or crap… I think I made it bigger. I stepped on it.

"Oh? And what makes you say that?" Master's eyebrows rose slightly.

Rubbing my eyes, I gave up my attempt at hiding my mirth and burst out giggling. All of the painful weight vanished. "Oh, just a hunch," I said cheerfully and skipped ahead of him. Maybe he won't notice the crack.

Master started to follow me, shaking his head in wonder. "Come to think of it, I'm still not used to your mood swings," he muttered as I stopped and waited for him. "But I do prefer it when you smile." I blushed and started toying with my wand. Again.

"But… I'm really sorry, though," I said, tracing the pink on my wand. "I wasn't trying to make you guys worry. I… I didn't want anything to happen to you guys." He stood next to me and I looked up, staring him straight in the eye. "You've all been so kind to me. You've all risked your lives when I was in danger. I want to do all I can to pay back that… that infinite debt. And you—you've all taught me so much. I think that… sometimes… I think that you're all my teachers!"

I caught him looking away for a split second before focusing his attention back to me. "Really…?"

"And even if it was at the back of my mind. Even if it was an unconscious thought…" I took his hand and clasped it tightly with both of mine. He looked at it intently, quiet as I continued, "I… I couldn't let anything happen to you again."

"Again?" he repeated softly, but I knew that he understood. He watched me carefully, but I didn't say anything else, so he said, "When you saw me in that stone tablet, did that hurt you…?"

"Hurt?" I forced a laugh. "I was… I was devastated!" Reawakened thoughts of anger, confusion, and grief suddenly filled my mind. I was, as before, Mahaado's apprentice. Standing before my fallen teacher's stone memorial with a priestess and pharaoh trying to comfort me. "How could you have let that happen? I was so sure that you would be okay!" My grip on his hand tightened. I closed my eyes and hung on to that memory. A thought struck me, and I reopened my eyes and smiled sadly. "And I was going to make you spend the entire evening looking in vases to find me for that math lesson I missed two days before." I stared at his hand and sighed, "But instead, I spent the whole night worrying. The entire morning crying."

This time, his hand closed over mine. Master pulled me close to him and wrapped his other arm around me. His armor felt cool against my skin. He whispered in my ear, "Then I beg your forgiveness. I didn't think that my death would have had such a huge impact on you."

A sudden memory of Mana came to mind. It had been a week since Mahaado was nothing more than a carving on a rock slab, but it felt like it was only half an hour ago. She sat with her back against one of the many vases in the pharaoh's palace, hugging her legs to her broken heart. Sometimes, she could hide her suffering from the guards and even the pharaoh himself with a cheerful smile, but no one could deny that her dark blue eyes had lost some of their childish shine to them. Mana just didn't seem to care about her appearance as much as before, when Mahaado would nonchalantly scold her over coming back to that palace completely soaked in Nile water and mud.

That was me.

"Of course it would!" I said and squeezed him back with my free arm. "What's the Dark Magician Girl without the Dark Magician?"

(-)

The Duel was between Maya and the Mysterious Puppeteer. I should be watching with rapt attention, but I couldn't. Occasionally, I heard the Witty Phantom going, "Oooh! Close one… But missed by a mile!" or something like that, but I didn't feel like paying any more attention.

"What's wrong, Dark Magician Girl?" Mystical Elf observed me with concern. "You don't seem to be interested in the Duel when you should be…"

"Mmnn," I sighed and turned to face her. "Tell me, do you remember anything about your childhood?"

She smiled and looked back to the Duel. Maya was in the air but was flapping her wings violently, straining against something. It was probably the Mysterious Puppeteer's invisible wires. How is anyone supposed to beat that guy when he can control them like that? Exactly what would warn you when he shot those puppet strings at you?

"Well, it was much less exciting than yours, I'm sure."

"Eh? What?" I looked at her inquiringly before remembering my own question. "Oh… Okay…" Now that I think about it, she was probably another sealed ka tablet. Wait—did the priests seal the human _ba _or_ ka_? Oh great, it's been millennia. How would _I_ have been able to remember all the stuff I learned in Egypt? Well, maybe she was created recently by Pegasus. After all, I doubt that all the machine-type monsters were of Egyptian descent. Some Duel Monsters were way too futuristic to have been part of the ancient world, y'know?

"Still," she continued, but her eyes didn't leave the field. "I don't think it's wise to dwell in past so much. Good memories are treasures, it's true, but you should mainly think about the present." I frowned. She can be so mystifying at times…. "And thinking too much about the future won't do either." She finally turned back to me once more with an enigmatic smile. I blinked and slightly tilted my head to the side, showing her that I had grasped some of what she said, but I needed more information to completely understand. "It's a simple concept, really. When one doesn't think of the present when it is here," she said and flipped her hair back behind her shoulder, "then what does one have, in the future, to call the past?"

Neither of us spoke for a moment as I processed what she had said in my brain. I cleared my throat and snorted, "So what you're trying to say is that if I don't pay attention to the present, then I won't be able to call back on it in the future, huh?"

"Precisely," she said, almost smugly.

I drummed my fingers on my lap and gave her a cynical look. "Uh huh, so what's this got to do with anything?"

Mystical Elf addressed my question a little more differently than I had expected. Without moving any other part of her body, she suddenly lifted her arm and jabbed a finger between my eyes. I squeaked and pulled back from her touch. She said accusingly, "You aren't paying attention to the Duel, are you? You need to! Don't you understand that whoever wins this Duel could face you in the next round?" I was starting to go cross-eyed as I stared at her finger, so I leaned even further back.

"But… but… I might not even have to face either of them at all if someone else Duels them first!" I stammered my pathetic justification just as I bumped into the purple mage sitting next to me. I looked back to apologize, but Master only glanced at me before turning his attention back to the Duel.

"… If she figures out his weakness, then she'll have no trouble defeating him," Master said calmly. I frowned, confused, and I sat up. As I was about to ask him to repeat his statement, the Magician of Black Chaos suddenly spoke up.

"Yeah, but I doubt that it's crossed her mind. She probably would have used it against him by now." By then, I had figured out that I wasn't in this conversation. On the other hand, there wasn't any harm in listening. I guess the two had already discovered a way to beat the Mysterious Puppeteer. No, I'm not guessing; I know it. "That is, if you're thinking the same thing that I am." And what exactly are you thinking, Magician of Black Chaos?

Master looked back and said, "I have several strategies, actually." I was paying full attention now. Even Mystical Elf was interested. I could feel her gaze brush past me to the two men. "However, most of them really simplify to eliminating the central problem: the strings. She'll need to find a way to get rid of the source…"

A wicked grin appeared on the Magician of Black Chaos' face as he rested his head on an upright palm. "Right, she'll need to pin his arms down. So he can't control her. " He failed to notice the disgusted glare Mystical Elf shot him as he said, "But seriously, if I were her, I'd break them." The Dark Witch in the Duel suddenly stopped pulling on the strings and dived down, crashing headlong into the puppeteer. "That works, too."

The Mysterious Puppeteer recovered quickly waved an arm upward. Maya staggered back, as if pushed back by some kind of force field. Her opponent brought up his other arm and yanked back the first. She shrieked and lashed an arm out wildly, but it slammed into something.

"She's doomed," said the Magician of Black Chaos with a sigh. "Figures it would end like this…" After all the excitement with the Sengenjins, he must be getting bored now. "It's the Mysterious Puppeteer's string cocoon."

Cocoon. The word made the hair rise on the back of my neck. How would it feel to be trapped inside an invisible cocoon with no way out? You could pound on the sides and scream, but everyone would be watching you with no intention of coming to your aid. "What… what do you mean by that? Why is she doomed?" I asked, feeling the goose bumps rise on my arms. The sky was still cloudy. The sun should be setting soon, and then the rest of the tournament will take place at night.

The thought of Dueling when it was dark made me nervous. Hold on, they would illuminate the stadium, wouldn't they? It seems kinda silly to have the contestants fighting in the dark. That would make it more difficult for them… Which gives more reason to do it… Wait. Then the audience wouldn't have a clue what was going on! I almost missed what the chaos mage said when I tried to pull myself out of my thoughts.

Shrugging, the level-eight Dark Magician told me, "He could leave her like that and go for her Lifepoints… That would end the Duel." As much as I hated Maya, I did feel relieved when he said that. That is, until he spoke again, "Or he could do what he did to the Battle Ox. He could crush her by closing his hand." I swallowed nervously. Crud, now I _really_ don't want to Duel him! That's scary!

But that was what the Mysterious Puppeteer intended to do. He interlocked his fingers and slowly pressed his palms together. Despite the fact that I couldn't see the cocoon, I could tell that it was shrinking. On Maya's face was a look of horror. I held my breath as she thrashed around violently, but there were strings restraining her movements, too.

Mystical Elf's voice held no sympathy as she said, "Hnn, so much for your rival." I released the breath I was holding and raised an eyebrow. Wow, bitterness.

"You're actually allowed to _finish_ off your opponents in this tournament…" I said quietly, my eyes growing wider as Maya's invisible prison grew smaller. I don't know whether I was asking a question or just stating the fact aloud so I would believe it. After this tournament, I think I'll look into the rules for next year. I asked Master about it a couple of weeks ago, and according to him, the battles are becoming more and more brutal by the year!

Master was staring at me. "Apprentice, I have a question for you." Glad for an excuse to look away, I focused on him. Which, um, wasn't really hard to do. Heh. "If you were in that situation, what would you do?"

"Scream and panic," the Magician of Black Chaos answered for me. I grunted indignantly and made an attempt to whack him with my wand. He just laughed and deflected it with his own staff. "Notice how she doesn't deny it?"

I scowled, knowing very well that he was right. "I… I don't know. Try to find some way out of it?" I asked hopefully.

"Explain."

Aaagghh…! It's amazing how one little word can require a paragraph-long reply! I scratched my head, ignoring the Magician of Black Chaos' snickering. Puppet strings, puppet strings… All that came to mind was a doll that I had once. This was after I had become a resident of the Shadow Realm. I was trying to fix a tear in her dress with magic. Sadly, the result was that my favorite doll had burst into flames…

"Fire!" I exclaimed, clapping my hands together. "Use fire to burn away the strings!"

"Dummy," the Magician of Black Chaos said, resting a fist lightly on my head. "What's going to protect _you_ from the fire?"

"Uh…" Well, it seemed like a good idea…

"Holy RA!" cried the Witty Phantom. "She knows magic!"

Maya had used Sparks, actually. The little fireballs shot out from the Dark Witch's hands and traveled to the Mysterious Puppeteer through his own string, igniting the air with crackling embers. Now, every string had been revealed by the fire, and the cocoon was now a blazing sphere.

The puppet master dropped his wires and shook his hands vigorously to keep his fingers from getting burned, and he succeeded—um… Sorta. He was left with minor burns. The cocoon, however, burst apart. Maya shot out and flew high into the air. Flames clung on to her feathers, but a few flaps of those huge wings extinguished them.

"Uh…" Ithought for a second. Then, I said, "I guess I'd put it out with my large, non-existent, black wings?" The chaos mage rolled his eyes and continued watching the Duel.

The Mysterious Puppeteer leapt away when Maya swooped down for an attack. He only dodged and ducked when Maya slashed at him. I stared in amazement. By Ra, when she burned his hands, she must have disabled him! "What's wrong?" snarled Maya. She was obviously not too happy about being humiliated by him during the first half of the Duel. She's after blood now. "Can't you do anything without your fingers to manipulate your opponents?"

Silently, the Warrior glided back and forth, right and left to avoid her rapid attacks. Maya feinted to the right, then whipped out her left leg to deliver a powerful kick to his side. The puppeteer gasped sharply and fell to the ground. "What are you without your puppets?" sneered the Dark Witch as she stabbed her spear down into the dirt, pinning him to the ground by his robes. With an infuriated 'humph', she whirled around and walked towards his Lifepoints. The Mysterious Puppeteer glared at her, his yellow eyes narrowing. He raised a wobbly arm. Maya stopped for a second and looked back. Her arm had been caught by his strings.

She smiled coldly and yanked her arm back, snapping the flimsy puppet strings. Without another word or hesitation, she finished off his Lifepoints.

"And… Ah… That's it!" The Witty Phantom's voice was higher, as if he had just regained control of it. "Looks like she won, yep… Umm… Wow, huh…" For once, he was speechless. Eh, then again, Maya looked ready to kill the first person that criticizes her, and the Mysterious Puppeteer was creepy enough as he was. Heheh, the phantom did himself a favor by keeping his mouth shut.

The Unhappy Maiden didn't need to use the microphone. She cleared her throat and said loudly, "That's the end of that Duel… With an incredibly unexpected outcome…! Please clear the arena for the next Duel! Between the two remaining actual Dark Magicians."

Mystical Elf stared at Maya in disbelief as the Fairy pulled her spear from the ground, releasing the Mysterious Puppeteer. She gave her wings a haughty flap and stomped away. "She made it. She beat him," my light Spellcaster friend said absently. "But she let him go with only a loss. I was sure that she would send him to the Graveyard. That she would kill him…"

I stood up, along with Master and smiled at her. "Well, Mystical Elf," I said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Does that mean she's not as bad as we both thought?"

"Hmmm…" She returned the smile and stretched her arms in front of her. "Perhaps," she replied and covered her mouth with a hand as she yawned. "I'll think about it. Good luck, Dark Magician."

(-)

"Two remaining Dark Magicians." I blinked, realizing what that meant. "That means you're Dueling Amir, aren't you?" Master walked quietly beside me. If he hadn't sighed, I would've thought that he didn't hear me. Was he that worried about the Duel? Was Amir that strong of a fighter? I bit my lower lip. But Master wouldn't lose! He couldn't… Not to Amir! As optimistically as I could, I said, "So are you gonna go easy on him or what?"

He looked at me, his expression mildly surprised. "Excuse me?"

"Oh come on," I said, grinning. "You're not going to lose to Amir! I know you won't!"

"Dark Magician Girl—"

And, as ridiculous as it is, he was interrupted by the sound of many, many footsteps. Racing towards us. I held my arms behind me. "Here comes your fangirls again," I told him, rising on my toes and then falling back on my heels. Jerking my thumb to my left, I said, "I'll go that way, and you can go the opposite way." I started to run but looked back to see that Master hadn't moved. "Do you want them to catch you or what?" He looked very apologetic. "Then, go!"

I left.

Since I got away sooner, I'm assuming that only a few of them saw me. I lost them a couple minutes ago, but I don't plan to go back yet. I probably sounded callous, but I was so tired of them tramping around after him! And Master doesn't do anything about it; he just takes it! But, it must be nice to have fans… Hopefully, he'll get to his Duel on time. I should wait near the entrance to the Dueling field, just in case. "Geez." But we should think up some better idea than running away all the time—

I spun around and blocked Maya's spear with my wand.

"You've gotten better," the Dark Witch commented on my reaction. Judging by her attitude, maybe she isn't nicer. Well, it's only been a little less than a day. "Did you squeeze in some training since this morning?"

"You have no idea," I said, smiling sardonically at her. Then, I pulled back my wand and frowned. "So why are you attacking me right now? Shouldn't you save your energy for our Duel?"

Maya combed her hair with a hand and waved the other at me conceitedly. She said, "Please, I could beat you in my sleep!" She lowered her spear and evaluated me through half-closed eyes. "But still, I don't want you holding back. Or running away for that matter."

I glowered at her, saying through clenched teeth, "I won't run away!" I placed my hands on my hips and tried to match her overconfident smirk. "But what about yo—ooh?" I looked around to see who had grabbed a lock of my hair.

Amir smiled and said, "May I borrow her for a minute?" I sweatdropped, feeling more and more awkward with Amir peering over my shoulder. How did he find me?

"Hmph!" Maya pursed her lips and whirled around, waving a hand dismissively. She walked away. "You can keep her. I was just here to warn her. To tell her she won't make it past the next round." I growled and was going to stalk after her to give her a piece of my mind, but Amir still had an astoundingly strong hold on my hair. "I mean, how _did_ you even make it past the first two rounds when you have your teacher come to your rescue all the time.

"Teacher?" I repeated the word as Amir's amused grin widened. "Oh, no, no." I elbowed him in the stomach and yelled after her, "Are you colorblind? This guy isn't my _real_ teacher!"

"Soon to be."

"That's…!" I almost twisted my neck as I looked over my shoulder. "…not true!" Amir surveyed me coolly as I stared at him in disbelief. It felt like a big block of ice had fallen through my heart and landed in my stomach. All the color had undoubtedly drained from my face. "But… what—what are you talking about?"

He gave me another one of his sinisterly calm smiles and extended a hand to me. "We're going to the same place, aren't we? To the Duel arena entrance. Walk with me?"

In a moment of blind panic, I slapped his hand away and advanced a step forward. "What the heck are you talking about?" I demanded, smashing a fist into his chest. He caught the other in his palm and closed his fingers over my hand. With a sudden thrust, he pushed me into the wall behind me. His action took me by surprise. The jolt from impact against the wall shook through my body, making my legs tremble. I fell to my knees and sat down, stunned. Cold—was it from the floor?—left me feeling numb and unstable.

"You okay?" Amir asked, walking to me. Once again, he held a hand out to me. This time, I accepted it with a shaky hand.

"What did you mean by that?" I said quietly when I got back on my feet. His answer—I didn't want to know his answer, but I had to be certain…! With wide eyes, I looked up at him. "Why did you say that? You weren't serious, were you?"

My hand was still in his. He said nothing as he led me down the hall. "I am serious because it's true," he finally said with an unruffled composure, as if it was normal and it wouldn't affect our lives in any way. "Once I win the Duel, you become my apprentice." Blood pounded furiously in my head as if a Dark Magician had executed an incredibly strong magical attack. This was all so sudden! What—why! The halls passed by in a blur.

I had trouble keeping up with him. He seemed to be in a hurry now and he sprinted down the hallway. "But you can't decide that all of the sudden I'm going to be your student!" I protested, trying to stop, so I could make him elaborate on his answer. "For Obelisk's sake, can't you slow down and explain it all to me!"

Amir sped up. Grr. "I didn't decide it."

"No way!" I stumbled and almost fell, but he jerked me back up into a run. Huh, even if I wanted to, I couldn't stop him. Sighing, I thought sadly, maybe I _am_ weak. Is that why he's supposedly my new teacher? Still, if _he_ didn't decide on it, then who did? "Oh…" I breathed and my throat tightened. One person came to mind. "Master would never agree to that!" At least he wouldn't without telling me! And not Amir, Master would never choose him as his replacement! This has to be some cruel joke Amir made up!

"I wouldn't say he agreed to it, either," Amir said and turned a corner.

But I don't understand. Then, how would this all work out if neither of them… Wait! Wait! "Wait, you said once you won the Duel," I gasped, but I got no answer. Rrg, I had to confirm whether I was right or not! If the match resulted in Master's victory, then… "If you don't win the Duel, then I'm still Mahaado's apprentice." He came to a screeching halt. I gave a squeak and crashed into him. "What was that for?" I cried, stepping back. Then, I realized that we were there. At the arena entrance.

He turned around to face me. His face held a solemn expression. "Dark Magician Girl, I can't throw the match," he told me, staring me straight in the eye, "and I can't go easy on him. This isn't going to be a simple, painless Duel. Both physically nor mentally." The look on his face was almost desperate. His eyes seemed to belong to a drowning man, clinging to whatever floated from the wreckage of his ship. It was like he wanted to tell me something, but he was bound by some promise not to. If he had said this at any other time, I would have yelled at him because I would've thought he was being arrogant for telling me that he wouldn't go easy on my master.

"Ah—Amir…" I started, but I wasn't sure what to say. His eyes flicked up for a moment. Then he pulled me closer to him; he still had my hand. His other arm wound around my shoulder. I turned red and slammed my forearms into his chest. "Hey, what are you—?"

"You listened in on our conversation, remember?" he said, and I suddenly recalled the conversation between him and Master before Amir's Duel, which had led to the 'clandestine' Duel. "Then you know why I can't have you as my student."

"Wh—What?" I squeaked, my mind turning into a fuzzy mess. Everything was happening so quickly! Why was he—no, _what_ was he doing? My arms folded. I clamped my mouth shut just as Amir pressed his lips against mine. "Mm!" The fuzzy mess exploded like fireworks. Absolute nonsense ran through my head.

Does this count as a first kiss?

"Heh, he doesn't stand a chance against me." The revelation that he had just pulled himself away suddenly hit me. "So I think I'll give him an advantage." I stared at him, completely dazed. It felt like my head was spinning around like crazy! He was running out to the Dueling field. Unfair advantage…? The crowd outside was screaming. What does he mean by that? Someone pushed past me. I looked up to see the blur of purple and cold blue eyes pierce through my soul.

Everything came into focus, and my hand reached out behind me in search of a wall. It found what it was seeking, and I staggered back into the cool surface, staring blankly and finally realizing…

Master just entered the arena.

(--------)

Yeah, I'm a horrible person, I know. But hey, at least the much-anticipated Duel between Dark Magician and Amir is coming up, now! R&R, please!


	15. Standoff! Amir vs Mahaado!

Princess of Magic

By Anime-2000

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any of that good stuff. Bah…

All righty! DMG's mad at me, Dark's probably going to skin me alive, Amir's not too happy about the whole thing (or is he?), and we have a bunch of excited reviewers. Huh, better start writing this chapter before Dark finds me. Chances are, DMG won't be protecting _me_ anymore. The things I do for my readers… Heheh.

Kudos to DSF, who got it right!

* * *

"You don't get it, do you?" I yelled at the Magician of Black Chaos. He covered his ears with his hands and stared up at me with an annoyed expression, like he was looking at a Kuriboh floating around his head. Oh, so you think you can block me out like that? I screamed louder, "They'll kill each other the moment one of the announcers say 'Duel!' I swear, Magician of Black Chaos, you have to do something or else—" I stopped in mid-sentence and looked around. Everyone wasstaring atme.

There was a muffled roar around us, and I instantly knew what had happened. Aww man. "You put a sound barrier around me, did you?" I jabbed a finger at the mage sitting in front of me.

"Hey, I'm still dealing with your whining, aren't I? Just relax," he said, batting away my arm and placing his hand firmly over my mouth. "If you shut up and let me talk, we won't have to worry about lawsuits being filed against us for damaged eardrums, okay? Unless you want me to keep the barrier up?"

I folded my arms and glared away. "Hmph."

With a small wave of his hand, the dark Spellcaster canceled the soundproof shield around us. "I still don't get what you're worried about," he told me and sighed. "Dark and Amir fight every year when they get a chance to. No love's lost between those two…" Grinning, he said, "They're always fighting over _something_. Last year, Dark was furious because Amir stole one of his spellbooks a year before that." He stopped and thought for a moment and then shrugged. "I think that was it. I can't keep up with all the reasons they have to be mad at each other anymore…" I groaned and slapped my forehead. "But anyway, too bad they were on the same team at the time. It looked like it would've been a pretty good fight."

"Tch, that was just a book… But this Duel… Well, I don't think that this Duel's a good idea!" I muttered, kicking up dust with my foot. Amir's such an idiot. What was he thinking? Kissing me like that! I looked back at the arena where the two Dark Magicians would fight and blushed. If it was to provoke Master, then he really picked the wrong way to do it! Master would…

What would he do? Beat Amir to a bloody pulp? But I don't want that. I don't want Amir killed either…

But Master has to win!

Aaghh! I ran a hand through my hair and grabbed a handful of golden locks. It was times like these I really wanted to pull my hair out, but I let go and pulled my hand out from under my helmet.

Are they fighting for me? Maybe I'm just being delusional, but Master did look angry when I saw him entering the Dueling field. Or was my mind playing tricks on me? Ooh, my head was still spinning from what happened a few minutes ago. The whole thing seemed to last forever, and the worst wasn't even over yet. Now I have to watch them kill each other. Oh man… I lightly shook my head andpulled my visor down over my eyes. I can't take much more of this…

"Huh, I wonder what they're fighting over this time?" mused the chaos magician. I snapped.

"Look!" I snarled, spinning around to face the surprised Magician of Black Chaos. "I am so sick of you always jumping to conclusions or stuff like that! Shut up—just shut up! You make me so mad!"

He blinked for a few seconds and then exploded, "I make _you_ mad? I'm not the one jumping to conclusions—What?" He sprang to his feet. _"What the heck are you talking about?"_

"Ah…" I stepped back and stared up. Some people shouldn't be allowed to use their height to intimidate others. Especially the Magician of Black Chaos! I bit my lip while my mind tried to come up with something for my mouth to say. In the end, I stared up at him and gave him a cheesy grin. "Gee, wow! You're tall!" I think I might have done this before...

The Magician of Chaos snorted and said, "No kidding." Luckily for me, he sat back down and decided not to press any further in the matter. I took a seat between him and Mystical Elf and began to draw on the ground randomly with a foot. I'm getting tired of all this Amir nonsense. How did I get tangled up in all this in just one day? The first time I enter this tournament, and now look where I ended up!

I examined my work and smiled with a sigh. I had written 'trouble' in the dirt.

"The second Duel in the third round of the Shadow Realm Games is about to commence!" At the sound of the Unhappy Maiden's voice, I brushed the word away with my feet and looked up.

Master and Amir were already at opposite sides in the arena. I could only see Master's back, but Amir was facing me. Amir seemed distant, lacking his—what is it, charismatic air?—and he looked too concerned to be daydreaming. The Witty Phantom had the microphone, which he was guarding jealously, so the Unhappy Maiden was left with only the magic on the field to magnify her voice. Hm, if they can use the spell, why do they even have a microphone?

"The opponents are the Dark Magician, Amir, and Dark Magician…" She stopped and blushed. Pushing her index fingers together timidly, she said in a quieter tone, "Excuse me. Do you have a name I can call you by?"

My teacher looked at her. A shiver originated from my scalp and ran down my spine. No wonder she was so uneasy when she spoke to him! Although I could only see the side of his face, and Master's glare wasn't directed to me, but his eyes just seemed so murderous! He was livid. After a short moment of hesitation, he said icily, "Mahaado."

"Mahaado," repeated the Magician of Black Chaos softly as he lightly tapped his knuckles against his mouth, thoughtfully. He stopped and leaned forward. "I didn't know he had a name. Sounds familiar." The butterflies in my stomach had multiplied. These few seconds might as well have been hours. Why won't they announce the beginning of the Duel already? Hold on. Do I want that?

"Dark Magician Girl?" I looked at Mystical Elf, but before I had a chance to answer, she said, "You're shaking."

"Really?" I looked down at my hands, and they were trembling. "Oh um… I'm—I'm… cold…" I lied and folded my arms to keep them from shivering. Mmm, if I keep lying like this, I may actually become goodat it! Really good, I mean.

"What are you talking about?" the Magician of Black Chaos scoffed. "How can you possibly be cold?"

I gave him an annoyed look and said, "You're wearing all black… _and_ you're wearing a lot more than me, too!"

He returned it with a sardonic smile. "Now whose fault is that?" I turned red and forced myself to look back to the field. Why do I even talk to him?

"DUEL!"

Amir's normal overconfident expression had reappeared, and he started the Duel off with a Dark Magic Attack.

Master leapt up and out of the blast. His staff glowed with dark magic as he brought it down on Amir. The blonde raised his own just in time to block the attack. The moment their staffs met, a burst of dark magic exploded, covering the area around them in dust. Loud clacks echoed throughout the stadium, assuring the audience that they were still fighting. I felt a sudden, dull pain behind my eyes as the dust cloud lit up and dispersed, releasing a strong shockwave that spread across the stadium. One of them just executed a really powerful Dark Magic Attack! Before I closed my eyes, I saw both of them being blasted high in the air from the attack.

Neither the Magician of Black Chaos nor Mystical Elf noticed that I had cringed and placed my head in my hands. They were watching the Duel with undivided attention, which was good. I didn't want Mystical Elf making a fuss over me again.

I made myself sit up rigidly as Amir suddenly sent Master plummeting down with a physical blow. As long as they keep the super strong magic attacks to a minimum, I'll be fine. Master softened his fall by firing a moderately strong attack at the ground right beneath him and sprang back up in the air for a counterattack.He knocked Amir out of the air and fired a series of smaller Dark Magic Attacks at him.

"Shoot!" Amir exclaimed as they almost hit their target. He was balancing on his staff and maneuvered it around the attacks. "Okay, now try to aim this time!"

"Dark Magic Attack!" Amir laughed and purposely fell off his staff, grasping it just in time to create a shield to block Master's magical attack. The blue Dark Magician allowed himself to descend a few dozen feet and evaded Master's staff again, then he dove after him.

"My turn," Amir said a shot a dark bolt of magic at Master. He dodged, and Amir followed him. Grinning, Amir asked, "Getting frustrated?" Another Dark Magic Attack narrowly missed him. Amir ended his pursuit and landed gracefully near Master's Lifepoints. "It must be difficult, knowing that I'm standing right in front of you, and you can't land a single blow on me." He bounded out of the way of a red beam, which hit the ground with an explosion, and launched a counterattack at Master. My teacher darted out of its way and leapt after him.

"What the heck are they doing?" cried the Magician of Black Chaos in dismay. "Neither of them are aiming for each other's Lifepoints!"

I grabbed him and shook, saying, "I told you! I told you! They don't care about Lifepoints—they're only aiming for each other!" My eyes never left the field. The level-eight mage nudged me off.

The Witty Phantom had regained his voice. "Look at that! They're jumping all over the place!"

"It's amazing!" squealed the Unhappy Maiden excitedly. "This is so exciting! Both Dark Magicians aren't backing down whatsoever… But it seems that Amir's only toying with Mahaado!"

"She's right," said the Magician of Black Chaos. He looked more concerned than anything else. "Dark's not focusing; he's just attacking. What's wrong with him?" He blew a low whistle. "It's weird and uncommon."

With a sigh, I slapped a palm against my forehead and let it slide over my eyes. This was not good. One reason was because this was kinda embarrassing, and the other was because… I peeked through my fingers and saw Master miss Amir again. Geez, if Amir wins, then I can't call Mahaado my teacher anymore… Taking a deep breath, I steadied myself and clasped my hands together, interlocking my fingers.

Master, Master, Master… Don't be so reckless! It's not like you! I squeezed my eyes shut. I know he couldn't hear me, but if only he would calm down! Then, he could probably hit Amir with an attack… I pulled my hands apart and closed them into fists. I forced all the air out of my lungs:

"_MASTER!"_

He heard me. I know he heard me that time. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if everyone within a three-mile radius heard me. Master looked in my direction. "Time out," he said, stabbing his staff into the ground beside him. Amir landed and copied his motion. This was… a pause in the Duel? You mean you can do that? "I'll put it simply: I don't know whatever all that was about before this Duel, but I will never forgive you for it."

"What's he talking about?" asked the Magician of Black Chaos. This time, I clapped a hand over his mouth.

Amir surveyed his rival calmly and said, "That was my intention. After all, I couldn't let you just treat this Duel as an ordinary, every day Duel, now could I?" The crowd grew silent. I blushed.

Folding his arms across his chest, Master frowned. "So was it to give me an incentive to Duel for, or was it to cloud my mind?" His voice wasn't cold. It didn't hold any uncontrollable rage. Just curiosity. And possibly anger; I can't be sure about that. But it was _cool._ Composed. As it should be. I sighed again. What a relief. "Whatever you had intended... I will fight my own way. Whatever the outcome may be, I will accept it. There is much I don't understand about you, but I know this."

"Feel free to dispense your wisdom." Amir smirked.

"Now that I think about it, I know every single one of your techniques and strategies." Master yanked his staff from the dirt with quick pull and pointed the emerald orb at Amir. He said assertively, "I won't lose to you."

Amir pulled his staff out and tossed from hand to hand. "If that's the case, then I know all of your tricks, too. This Duel has to have a loser. We'll see if it's me…" His eyes lingered on his staff for a moment before resting on the other mage. "…or you."

They said, simultaneously, "Duel."

And that's when the Dueltruly began. Before, it was just one magical attack after another. Now, they've incorporated spells and traps into the fight.

I had no idea either of them were so fast! I never even thought that they could have been quicker than they normally were, but now they were like… blue and purple blurs. Occasionally one would slow down enough for us to see, when they were on the offensive. Or when they would collide in physical attacks. Seeing them made me feel that I still had a lot more to learn and a long way to go before I would be satisfied with my own training.

"This is pretty impressive," commented the Magician of Black Chaos.

"Yeah!" I breathed and looked at him. He was studying the Duel intently. "Look how fast they're moving! And they've still managed to evade each other's attacks!" Almost immediately after that sentence came out of my mouth, Master avoided one of Amir's Dark Magic Attacks, but Amir just grinned scornfully.

The ritual magician shook his head slightly and said, "No, that's not what I meant. They're both thinking—or trying to—at least one step ahead of the other. That's why everything's going so quickly. They're using strategies the moment they think them up. Look." I turned back to the Duel, wondering exactly what he meant by that.

Master was trapped! The arena walls were right against his back. "Too bad we don't have one of those spinning wheels to tie you to. It would've been a lot more fun," said Amir. He waved a hand slowly from left to right. Four daggers appeared in front of him. And—I'm assuming—996 more appeared around him and Master. Amir grabbed the four and hurled them at my teacher. "Thousand Knives!" The rest launched themselves at his target as well.

If it hadn't have been so quick, I would covered my eyes, butMaster just twirled his staff and crossed his arms in front of himself. "Magical Boxes!"

"No!" The blue mage was encased in a box with three question mark doors, like Master was.

The knives plunged themselves in the box that Master had encased himself in. On top of that, several swords appeared and pierced through the magical box. I shivered. Or maybe it would be better defined as a coffin. Cool combo, though…

"See, that's what I was talking about!" the Magician of Black Chaos said, all of the sudden smacking a fist into a palm. "The only way they know whether their attacks and moves will workor notis through personal experience and knowledge of the spell's potential."

"Uh… Eh?"

"In other words, their plans are half-baked," he finally said and gave me an exasperated look, which I receive more often than you'd think from him. "Nobody thinks out a complete battle strategy and knows it's completely fool-proof in less than three seconds! What happens all depends on what they know, how they execute their plans, and…"

"A little bit of luck wouldn't hurt?" Mystical Elf interjected.

"You have no idea," agreed the Magician of Black Chaos with a grin. Huh, I guess he would know stuff like this. Sometimes I forget that this guy's one of the best magicians in the realm. I usually think of him as a friend. Maybe a big brother figure… I smiled and remembered all the times he's teased me and called me weak. But then again, he's a great guy. Hah. A mean big brother…

The three doors to the box Amir had been last seen in opened, and Master stepped out. The box vanished behind him. The other box's doors opened, too. Inside was a shredded silk hat.

Three more hats materialized around Master. Master spun around just in time to see Amir spring out from under a hat. "Nightmare Spell!"

Ah! Those chains from the whole Sengenjinfiasco were back! Master realized it, too. He jerked on his constraints and glared at Amir, who jabbed Master in the chest, sticking a piece of yellow parchment, which was probably to seal the spell, to him. He told the purple-robed Spellcaster, "I always learn something from a life-threatening experience, like this spell for example. Very useful, wouldn't you say?" Amir can't mean that he just learned it from just seeing it, can he? Grr,no one learns that quickly!

"Right, clever," said Master, a small, crafty smile appearing on his face. "But there's no reason to show off. There are plenty of different spells that can give you the same effect."

Swords of pure, golden light fell from the sky and surrounded Amir. "Swords of Revealing Light?" Amir asked after looking around. Master only nodded.

"Stalemate!" The chaos magician sitting next to me was now thoroughly impressed, and Mystical Elf clapped slowly, her eyes wide as if she were in a trance. I looked around. The audience went wild around us.

But the only person that caught my eye was the old sage standing near the fence around the battleground. He wasn't too far away from us. Hmmm… I got up and started to make my way through a crowd of jumping, screaming fans.

"Where are you going, Dark Magician Girl?" Mystical Elf's voice managed to reach me over the din of cheers.

I looked back and smiled, waving a hand casually at her. "Oh, I just wanted to see something. Ah… seeya guys later!" She looked at me, perplexed as she sat back down, and I struggled forward. "Agh!" I stumbled over someone's foot and crashed into someone else. This was so not cool.

After a dozen 'sorries' and even more 'excuse mes', I finally made it out of the sea of monsters. Dark Sage stood right in front of me. "You!" I exclaimed, a little out of breath. I breathed in deeply and raced towards him. "This was all your doing, wasn't it?" I cried, stopping right next to him.

"My doing?" asked the ancient mage. His eyebrows rose a little higher on his face. I sweatdropped. Ooh, maybe I'm the one that's always jumping to conclusions…

Just then, two waterspouts shot up from the middle of the Dueling field. They were like twin geysers, but swirling upward with a deafening roar. "Two Mystical Space Typhoons!" I shrieked as water sprayed around us like a heavy mist. My hair whipped at my face, and I had to grab my helmet to keep it from flying off my head. "What—what about those two…Master and Amir?"

The Dark Sage shook his head. "They will be fine." The two spiraling pillars of water shrunk until they were as thin as thread and then completely vanished, leaving the two Dark Magicians free but soaked. Master ripped the parchment off of him and tossed it aside. They both looked tired but more determined than ever. "I doubt that either of them plan to give up anytime soon. Eh, Dark Magician Girl?"

Almost instantly, the spells and attacks started again. I turned to the elderly magic-user standing next to me. "So it really was you?"

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, you spoke to Amir after the Sengenjin mess—which, if I may add, was your idea in the first place," I said and held out two fingers in front of me. I added a third as I continued, "Not only that, but Amir also said that he didn't decide that all of the sudden he was my new teacher! And… and…" I couldn't think of any more reasons to back up my accusation anymore, so just stopped while I was ahead.

"Is that what you meant?" the old sage asked me and smiled. "Then, yes, this was my doing."

I gave him a confused look. "Why? What's wrong with my current teacher? You trained him, didn't you? Why do you want to change…?"

"You care for him." I blinked and closed my mouth. The Dark Sage's attention shifted back to the two magicians Dueling in the middle of the stadium. "You do, don't you?"

"Oh, I…" I blushed and faced the Duel too. Master was on the defensive now as he blocked attacks from hitting their mark, but Amir was having a hard time advancing any further.

"Allow me to explain my logic," said the Dark Sage. I made no objection. "I've noticed that you really care about him. If he returns your feelings, then your training will be insufficient. He would never push you to the max in fear of ruining this special relationship, and you would never reach your full potential. Amir, on the other hand—"

I pounded the fence with a fist and tore my eyes away from the Duel and to the ancient Dark Magician beside me. "That's not true!" I said snappishly. I shook my head fiercely and repeated, "That's not true! He wouldn't—What I mean to say is… Look, Amir is no different! And even if he were, pushing me to my limits, in his point of view, could come close to killing me! He doesn't want me as his student, and I want to keep Mahaado, the Dark Magician, as my teacher!"

"Is that so, Dark Magician Girl?"

"Yes, it is!" I said, flushing to a darker red. "Besides, what makes you think Amir wouldn't go easy on Master so he would win? He told me himself that he couldn't have me as a pupil!"

Sighing, the Dark Sage replied, "And I told Amir that if I felt he was going easy on my former student, I would immediately take your education and put it in _his_ hands."

Lightning seemed to flash across my mind. _"Dark Magician Girl, I can't throw the match. And I can't go easy on him."_ Amir's words echoed in my head. "But… but…" I stammered, but there was nothing to say. Dark Sagewas so determined. And I couldn't do a single thing to tip things in my favor. But if… "If Master wins, what does that mean?"

"Amir is going all out on this Duel," he said, and folded his arms, his own staff held firmly in his grasp. His eyes flashed."This is a test of both strength and skill. If _your_ teacher is somehow able to defeat him, then that proves that he has more ability than I had given him credit for. He remains your educator."

Suddenly, a thought came to mind. Something that hadn't crossed my mind until this moment: "Does Master know about any of this?"

"…" The Dark Sage grinned slyly. "No."

I groaned and let my face fall into my hands. "You're so mean to him."

"I'm still testing him," said the sage.

"Testing?" I looked up and stared at him curiously. "What do you mean?"

"He may deny it," the ancient magician said, his smile softening, "but I am still his teacher. I have knowledge of the past and the present that he could only obtain in his dreams. Every now and then, I like to try him and see if he's learned anything else by himself." I didn't completely understand what he meant, but I somehow knew. The feeling was like… uh… You know… A word that you've seen so many times and you knew what it meant, but you couldn't put the definition in simpler words. "We will see if he deserves you or not."

Staring back at the Duel, I thought about what he said. Then, I stated firmly, "I don't care who wins." Dark Sage looked at me strangely. "I'm sorry for sounding disrespectful," I said without looking away from the arena, "but _I_ will decide who's my teacher and who's not." I smiled and leaned forward on the fence. "But I'm pretty sure I know who's going to be the victor. You're right, I do care about Master a lot. And I have faith in him. He'll win in the end anyway. The Pharaoh's really rubbed off on him." I gave a laugh and sighed blissfully. "When it comes to important and powerful rivals, he'll still beat them."

The Dark Sage's eyes stayed on me as I spoke. Finally, he said, "Yes, both of them are fighting with everything they have. Especially your current teacher. Which makes me wonder why you haven't left already."

"Hmm?" I asked and glanced at him before returning back to the Duel. "Why?"

Another magical shockwave pushed them both back, but Amir took more damage and fell. Master raced forward and fired a Dark Magic Attack at him. Amir rolled away to avoid it and jumped up just in time to block Master's staff. "Ah…!"

"Game over, Amir," said Master as he pressed his staff down harder on Amir's.

"Tch, yeah. For you," his opponent replied with a grin, and he forced Master back a few centimeters.

The tension around them crackled.

Tension can do that?

No, wait… Wait, that's magic!

"NO! They can't both execute a super powerful attack at such close range!" I cried and leaned forward. The Dark Sage grabbed a hold of my cape and pulled me back. I pointed at the two magicians who were brimming with power. "They'll destroy each other!"

"No, not another step forward, Dark Magician Girl!" the Dark Sage snapped as he yanked on my cape again. "Remember your effect?"

"What—?" Oh… Oh crap…!

Master and Amir were glowing—their auras flaring up like fire. A black sphereappeared from the point where their staffs connected. Slowly, it grew, sizzling as electricity danced around it. "DARK MAGIC ATTACK!" A huge amount of dark magic was released as the ball of black magic abruptly swelled up and engulfed both of them. It continued to spread across the field. My effect would force me to absorb at least some of that power! If I wasn't crushed by it first.

It _erupted_ with a huge boom. I gasped and pressed a palm against my chest. Magic was being crammed into me, and my heart pumped my magic-infused blood faster and faster. A sharp pain shot through my head and streaked down my body. The pounding of blood grew louder and louder. I felt sick. "Nnnhh…" I held back a scream and squeezed my eyes shut as I fell to my knees. All the noise around me turned dull and muffled. This was more powerful than any Dark Magic Attack I've ever experienced before! What about them, though? At this rate… what will happen to _them?_

Then the pain started to fade. The nausea went away, and my heart returned to normal beating. With the support of the fence, I pulled myself up. "Ahh… Whew…!" I shook my head clear and looked over the wooden planks. My eyes widened.

Dark Sage put a hand on my shoulder. "Are you all right, Dark Magician Girl?"

"I'm okay…" I stared at the field in horror and dropped back down to the ground. "…but Master and Amir…" I let my forehead rest on the wooden fence and allowed my eyes to close. I was afraid of this. I was afraid that this would happen. "They're gone…"

* * *

Whoo… Sorry for the bad ending of this chappy.

Oh and the spinning wheel Amir was talking about refers to that one carnival act... You know, you have someone lie on their back on the wheel, tie them to it, spin the wheel, and throw daggers at the wheelwhile attempting not to impale the unlucky person spinning round and round...

And round and round...

And round and round and round...

I do believe it's also known as the Wheel of Death. :)

'Till next time! R&R, please!


	16. Victory!

Princess of Magic

By Anime-2000

Disclaimer: You know, now that I go back through here… I don't own a single character in this fic except for me in the author notes. I just kinda gave them personalities and roles… Ah, good ol' fanfiction.

Bleh, I'm really getting annoyed with certain parts of FF . net's editing process.

* * *

I crossed my arms and rested them on the wooden fence. The scene played over and over in my head. Every detail. Every word. Everything! "How could this have happened?" I moaned and dropped my head in the crevice made by my arms. "How could this have even been possible!" 

The Dark Sage sighed and placed his hand over his forehead as he massaged his temples. "The Shadow Realm Games is a brutal event, which may be the reason your teacher kept you from it all these years… The rules were set from ancient times. It still amazes me that the audience doesn't get to decide whether the loser is allowed to live or not after each Duel." He heaved a sigh and lowered his hand from his head to his staff. "Those stupidly stubborn boys… See how they fight for you?"

"Hmph, you're making Amir do this," I looked up and reminded him. "And they're so competitive to begin with…" I placed my chin on my arms and stared dejectedly at the field. "Tell me, Dark Sage, are they in the Graveyard?"

"Most likely."

"… Okay… So when will they be back?"

"In a week or so."

The hair on my scalp shot straight up. "Eh?" I jerked my head to face him. "Why that long?"

"Think about how strong that Double Dark Magic Attack was," he answered me, shrugging as he brushed a protruding splinter off his wooden staff with a thumb. "It was more than enough to destroy them both. I'd say it would take a week minimum for them to recover from that blast."

My eye was twitching. "A… A week…" I repeated and stood up straight, still gawking at him in disbelief. All of my frustration, all of my worry and anger rushed from my mouth in one, frigid word: "What?" The air froze around me. I'll be darned if frost hadn't covered my armor at that moment.

He watched at me calmly and said, "Good glare. Have you been working on it?" I gave an exasperated grunt, whirled around, and began to walk. The Dark Sage noticed my action. "Dark Magician Girl, what are you doing?"

"I'm going to the Graveyard," I replied instantly, having expected the question. "I'll find them somehow."

"Dark Magician Girl…" I quickened my pace and was not pleased when I saw that the older version of my teacher was following me. What was more disturbing was when I realized that he said my name in the exact, annoyed way Master would say it when I did something wrong or was being too stubborn. "You can't go to the Cemetery right now. Do you not know how long it takes to get there from here? Think of the tournament! Since those two aren't coming back, your Duel is next!"

_Hmmmm._ Really, Master and the Dark Sage had more in common than the younger version would admit to. My fists tightened, and I stopped and spun back around. "They are! They will be back!"

He reached a hand out and grasped my upper arm. "Listen to me," he said firmly as I tried to pull away. For an old man, he had a strong grip! "Don't throw yourself in denial just because you think that my old student is perfect in every way!" I bit my lower lip and stopped resisting. My face grew hot. "The fact is he isn't," he continued, giving me a stern, but sort of sympathetic, look. "He's powerful, I'll confess, but he's not invincible, as you have just seen! And neither is Amir. I'll repeat, when you're sent to the Graveyard with such a tremendous force of magic, you don't just get back up and start fighting again!"

I tasted blood as my teeth sank in too hard in my lip at his last sentence. "Yes, but," I said and looked down at our feet, "I still don't want to feel so helpless. There has to be something we can do!"

"And what were you planning to do?" he asked, releasing me.

"Well," I said with a faint smile. "I left my wand with Mystical Elf and the Magician of Black Chaos. I was thinking of getting it and then flying to the Graveyard." After a few moments of thought, I said, "But I didn't get any further than that… I figured I'd find them sooner or later…" I gazed away again. My traitorous face would have revealed my worry to the sage. "I—uh, should be going now!" I said, making my voice as cheerful as I could. "Heheh…" Nah, that little laugh was unnecessary.

What am I supposed to do? Thinking back, Master was always with me or at least I'd know where he was or if he was all right or not. Now, I'm terrified for him, and I feel alone. Not in the isolated from everyone kind of alone, but more of the fearful alone. I wasn't really afraid of this realm. It was just the feeling itself that made me ill at ease.

Whoa!

Two crimson columns of smoke shot up from the field. I turned to the Dueling arena and slowly made my way to fence. Standing erect on opposite sides of the field were two crimson sarcophagi, facing each other, each with a golden cross fused to the front. I felt an overwhelming rush of relief and happiness when I saw the two familiar mages slam their coffin lids open, see each other, and then get this disbelieving, disappointed expression on their faces while saying, "You…!"

"What does it take to keep you down?" exclaimed Amir, slamming his staff against his casket without taking his eyes off his opponent. It disappeared in a red cloud.

Master snorted, making his coffin disappear in a puff as well, but with a snap. "My words exactly."

And they flew at each other and began attacking again.

"Great Gods," cried the Unhappy Maiden, slapping her hands to her mouth. "Those two Dark Magicians are really determined, aren't they?"

"We're going to be here until tomorrow at this rate," groaned the Witty Phantom, letting his head fall to the table. "They won't stop even after deeeaaathh…"

The Judgeman sat straight with his arms folded, his expression calculating, and his head nodding every once in a while in approval of a well-executed strategy. The Chaos Command Magician viewed the Duel with a serene gaze with his chin supported by the heel of his hand. He was drumming his fingers slowly in a wave, back and forth, back and forth. His rhythm was perfect, even after the several times a Dark Magician, plunged into the ground only inches away from the Judges Table.

Dark Sage stared at the two battling mages with an incredulous expression and he repeated in disbelief, "Stupidly stubborn…"

Meanwhile, I pranced around him, singing gleefully, "They're back! They're back! Yay, they're back!" I came to a halt in front of him and pointed at the field. "See, they're back!" I was like a kid at a carnival, but I was so happy! They were all right! I was so delighted that I was almost in tears. "Look!" I was well aware that the old mage's expression was directed to me after I threw my arms around him in a great bear hug and then let go and started skipping around him again.

"Do you plan watching the rest of the Duel?" he asked me, raising an eyebrow.

I slowed down andstopped whenI reached the fence again. "Yep!" He chuckled and shook his head slightly.

"Oh, it's absolutely stunning how evenly matched they are!" gushed the red-headed announcer, clapping her hands in excitement. "While their strategies may seem flawless, even to a professional eye, the other Dark Magician is still able to find someway to counter it!"

She was right. No matter how perfectly Amir performed his spells, Master still managed to avoid injury. And no matter how many times Master seemed to have victory in his grasp, Amir would pull some unforeseen stunt, and the tug-o'-war game would continue in no one's favor. As absurd as it may sound, it was inspiring.

Finally, Amir crashed hard into the arena floor, stirring up puffs of dust, obscuring the magician. Master dove down after him. The cloud settled down. Amir seemed slightly disoriented, and his helmet had loosened. He had a hand to his face with his head tilted down. Huh, I wonder if he got sand in his eyes or something…! It looked like Master was going to win!

Then, suddenly, Amir jerked his helmet off and flung it at Master.

"What the—!" My teacher did _not_ see that coming. He faltered for a nanosecond and swatted it out of the air with his staff. Unfortunately, that left him wide open for Amir's Dark Magic Attack. Eeg, there goes Master's helmet, too! Eh-hey! If I hurry, I could get it!

"'Scuse me!" I said with a quick nod to the Dark Sage and hurried past him into a crowd of Warriors. "Hiya!" I said to them when I realized I couldn't get through. "Could I pass?" Without another word, they stepped aside to form a small pathway for me. They must have been awfully scrunched, seeing as how much armor they wear. And think about their weapons…! That was nice of them. I shouted a word thanks back to them and sped up. Master's helmet landed somewhere around here…

"Ah! Found you!" I said as I stopped and picked it up. It probably hit the fence first and then bounced off to the ground. "Hehe. Before some fangirl did, at least."

There was a crunch of wood next to me, and I flinched, my grip on the helmet tightening. I gingerly took a step toward the wooden planks and peered over.

Amir had pinned Master to the wall with his staff pressed against his throat. "You really can't beat me, can you?" Amir asked, pushing his green staff harder down on the other mage. Hey, what happened to Master's staff? The blonde Spellcaster leaned closer, pressing more of his weight down on him and whispered so softly that I could scarcely hear it, "Pathetic." Master glared up at him. For a moment, I wanted to jump over the fence and help my teacher.

Then Amir looked up, and I quickly ducked down behind the wood. My face was burning, and I sighed and sat down with my back against the fence. That was too close! Eh? But what was I so worried about? What _if_ he saw me? What did I care…? Arghh… I sighed quietly and hugged the purple helmet in my arms closer to my chest.

"So are you going to let me win this easily, _Brother_?" Amir's voice was barely audible through the wood. Weird, shouldn't it be amplified like it was the rest of the time? Hmm… maybe the spell doesn't have any effect on the edge of the field? Ooh, or maybe it doesn't work if you're talking so quietly…

Why the heck am I thinking this! I lightly bonked my forehead with a fist and pressed the side of my head against the fence. My brows furrowed as I tried to discern Amir's words. "If this is your best shot, Dark Magician Girl's as good as mine." I slowly got to my feet in a crouch with my ear still plastered the to wooden wall that separated us. What's Amir trying to say? I thought he didn't want me as his student!

"Keh, over my dead body," snarled Master.

"Just what I wanted to hear." Amir sounded pleased. I suppressed a giggle. What an amazing guy. Ahem, not as great as Master, of course.

I jumped up just in time to see Master ram a foot in the blue-armored Dark Magician's stomach. Amir was sent hurtling back, but he recovered too quickly for Master to fire another attack at him. Master retrieved his own weapon.

Once again, their staffs were locked in battle. I hurried back to the Dark Sage.

It seemed wrong for me to charge right through the group of Warriors again, so I walked up a few steps until I found a relatively less crowded row for me to pass through. Still, it was close to the bottom row anyway, so I couldn't help but overhear the Celtic Guardian and the Big Shield Gardna's conversation.

"I knew those Dark Magicians were strong, but I had no idea they were so tireless in battle!" the shield-carrier said, shaking his head with his wild mane swishing behind him. "What do you think? They would've made fierce Warriors, hm?"

The Celtic Guardian had his elbows on the wooden fence and his head resting on his hands. He sighed with a childish impatience. "Uh huh, sure," said the elf, dropping his hands from his chin. He stood straighter. "It's getting kinda boring. Seriously, though, you can tell they're wearing out." Oh boy, is he still sore about getting knocked out of the tournament in the first round?

"Can you now?"

Yes, can you really tell? I stopped walking and glanced at the current Duel between Master and Amir before directing my full attention toward the two Warriors, straining my ears to hear their conversation. To me, the two magicians were as relentless as ever! They were pounding each other endlessly with brutal spells. To the Celtic Guardian's point of view, however…

"Of course!" the green swordsman insisted, nodding slowly, but his voice was firm. "See? Before, they couldn't land a single blow on the other! Now, their attacks are actually hitting their target!"

I blinked a couple of times. Oh, duh! That means…

"They're slowing down." The Celtic Guardian looked at the Big Shield Gardna, his mouth curved into a smirk, and he said, "They can't avoid each other's attacks as well anymore, so now they're trying to overpower the other with magic!"

"Ahh…" his black-haired friend said with an understanding nod. "You think so?" The green-armored Warrior's grin widened as he shook his head up and down, this time much more fervently. The Big Shield Gardna laughed. "How'd you come up with that?"

Shrugging, the Celtic Guardian said haughtily, "It's obvious, isn't it?" Then he caught the scowl the Big Shield Gardna was giving him and smiled sheepishly, adding on, "Oh yeah, and I was talking to Neo a couple of minutes ago. He knows his magic as well as swordsmanship, but he's way too concerned about his appearance! What kind of guy spends an hour deciding what clothes to wear the next day? I mean, seriously! He only has one outfit, doesn't he?"

"Heh _hem_."

The Celtic Guardian blinked at the PO'd sword-wielding Spellcaster now standing beside him and said, "Hey, Neo! We were just talking about you."

At that point, someone tugged at my right arm. I looked down to see a little boy donned in brown and earthy colors. He was sitting on a large reptile as he stared up at me. The kid was adorable! "Oh, hi…?" I said hesitantly.

"Miss, you're blocking my view," he stated simply, "so could you please move?"

"Sorry," I apologized and was back on my way to the Dark Sage again. Of course, I tripped over a few more monsters and stepped on some of them, too. Heheh… Whew… Owww… Those Dark Magic Attacks are starting to make me dizzy.

The sage in purple robes raised his brows when he saw me panting as I staggered toward him. "All that effort to retrieve that thing?" he asked me, his voice containing a surprisingly large amount of amusement in it.

I took a deep breath and blew it out as I walked back to my spot by the fence. "There are too many monsters here!" I told him huffily, switching Master's helmet from one arm to the other. "I kept on stumbling over spectators. This one creepyCrass Clownpractically chased me down before I realized that all he wanted was an apology! And aside from all of that, those magical attacks keep on getting stronger and stronger!" I said, jerking a finger up to the two mages, who were now in a mid-air battle.

The Dark Sage nodded. "Yes, they're wearing out—"

"—so they're using the rest of their strength, not speed," I finished anxiously, leaning sideways on the wood and watching as Master crashed down a few feet away from the Judge's Table. The Witty Phantom leapt behind the Unhappy Maiden and the Judge Man for the umpteenth time while the Chaos Command Magician kept on drumming his fingers at a perpetually stable tempo.

"It's still unbelievable how much energy they've spent for this one Duel," said the old Dark Magician, frowning as he surveyed the Duel. Amir dodged a moderately powerful Dark Magic Attack, but a Riryoku spell hit him dead on. His attack points dropped to 1250 while Master's rose to 3750. In the other realm, the effect of the card would last until the end of the player's turn, but here, the spell is good for one attack.

"Mm, what? What d'you mean?" I asked him, snapping myself out of my thoughts.

He just shook his head and stared at his staff for a second and then suddenly looked up. "Oh… Well, think about how long the winner of this Duel has to rest before having to stand up to Duel again in the next round."

"Yeah…" I began biting my thumbnail. "Since there are less and less contestants left in the tournament, he might have to fight again immediately after my Duel."

Again, the Dark Magician beside me nodded sagely. "Yes, near the end of the competition, the remaining contenders are tested for their stamina and determination to be the new champion. It's unwise to use so much power for one Duel during this time of the tournament. Those two should know that." His eyes fell on me. "They are really giving their all for you."

Silently, I stared at the field as Master fired magic attack at the weakened magician. Then, Amir summoned Waboku to the field. Three figures robed in light blue appeared in front of him. It was hard to tell whether they were men or women. They negated the attack and vanished, leaving Amir unharmed and back at 2500 points again.

I groaned. Exactly how much magic did those two have left?

All of the sudden, both of them bolted toward the center of the field. A loud clap sounded as their staffs smacked into each other and locked together. This had happened many times in the Duel, but this time… This time was different.

"This is it!" cried the Dark Sage. Heh? Looks like I may have spoken too soon.

I leaned closer to the fence, my eyes growing bigger and my head pounding as the ground around them split instantly, meaning they had both attacked with magic. Also meaning they had both taken the full blow of the other's attack, as well as the backlash of their own.

Now I realized what the Dark Sage had meant. Neither of them had enough power to send the other to the Graveyard anymore. And both of them were exhausted! Which means whoever is left standing after this attack… That Dark Magician is the winner!

Both Amir and Master thrust an outstretched hand out toward the other.

"DARK MAGIC ATTACK!"

The fractured ground around them cracked again. Rock fragments and debris levitated as the entire field was engulfed by the attack. Colors underwent a drastic change, and the air itself seemed to turn black. The darkness swallowed the Judge's Table, too, but the judges themselves had already left. (Judge Man grabbed the Unhappy Maiden by the waist and the Chaos Command Magician by the cape and carried/dragged them to where the Witty Phantom had taken refuge; the Fiend having fled the scene a while ago.)

And me? Well, it wasn't as bad as the first time, when they sent each other to the Cemetery, but I couldn't take much more of this anymore…

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, OW!" I whimpered, clutching my head as I closed my eyes and dropped to my knees.

"Dark Magician Girl, will you be all right!" The Dark Sage knelt beside me.

"Pain…Shooting…Searing…Agh…Awful…Head exploding…More pain… _Gods_… Hurtss!" I think I gave him a good description. Moaning, I fell to my side and pulled my legs to my body, my hands still cradling my head. "_Owwwwwwwww…_"

Then it stopped. The blood ceased to rush through my body at a crazy speed. Pain stopped streaking through my head, and my mind just fogged up and was starting to clear. I stopped hurting. I kinda lost all sensation in my body except for a nice,calming feeling…

Slowly, I sat up, rubbing my head with a hand. I shook my head vigorously and then looked to the old mage next to me. "Who won?"

He smiled and stood up. I took the hand he held out to me, and he pulled me up. "See for yourself."

"…?" I slowly turned to the arena. The once smooth, dust-covered ground was cracked and uneven. Inside a circle of jagged rocks was a patch of flat land. In the middle were the two Dark Magicians, both disheveled and tired, but the victor was obvious. Amir sat on the ground. Master stood over him with both staffs in his hands.

"You lose," he told him, "Amir."

The blue mage looked up. He smirked. "Defeat accepted."

I blinked once. Then again. "He won…" I murmured, my fingers instinctively tightening on the wooden fence for support as my legs wobbled. "He won."

"Hard to believe?" The Dark Sage's voice barely reached me. I turned around. Usually, that would have been a simple task, but now, my feet were slow and wouldn't obey me. I tripped and fell on my hands and knees. "Dark… Dark Magician Girl…?"

"Nope!" I sat up and looked back at him. "Nope, I knew he would win!" I said, grinning. "Heh, I told you! See, I told you Master would win!"

The elderly magician just gave me a warm smile and tossed something to me. Master's helmet hit the floor lightly, bounced, and landed in front of me. I picked it up and held it in my hands, fingering the smooth contours of the purple headpiece. "You might need that. Now, run along. I have important matters to attend to." I stared at the Dark Sage's back as he walked away.

"Mmm." Just watching that Duel was exhausting. But at least I don't have a new teacher! Smiling, I picked myself off the floor and took another glance at the helmet before running to the halls.

Master. I found him standing in the hallway with his back against one of the pillars. The hallway was swathed with a, calm blue lighting, the fading light from the windows blurring the shadows together. His head was tilted down, and his indigo hair was draped over his face. He seemed tranquil. I wonder if he was asleep? Probably. I glanced at the helmet in my arms and then back at him. I shouldn't wake him. He's had a pretty stressful day, and that Duel was… unnecessarily difficult. I grinned and walked to the pillar, stopping momentarily beside him to admire him, and then let myself fall back onto the other side of the column.

It was quiet for a moment. Very peaceful. It was nice, since for some reason today, every time we were alone, there was this tension between us… Or some rampaging monster was trying to kill us… Or just something that just wasn't right… Now, I really don't feel any gravity pulling on me. I felt relaxed.

"So, um… Congrats on your win, Master!" I said, looking up at the ceiling. "I mean, I knew you would win anyways… But that was a tough battle, wasn't it? Amir's strong, but you still beat him in the end. You were really amazing!" Eeehhhh… I sweatdropped. What was I doing?

Tch, stupid, stupid me… My gaze fell upon his helmet again. I started to trace the lavender lines that highlighted the edges once again and then gave a light laugh. I had a lot of things to get off my chest—a lot of things to tell him. So even if he wouldn't remember, I'd feel better about it. "Actually, I'm a lot happier than you think," I sighed and checked behind me. Master hadn't moved. So I turned my head back around and continued, "Y'see, Dark Sage had Amir agree that if you lost to him, then… Well, Amir would be my new teacher.

Well, it's not that I'm afraid of all the intense training he'd probably put me through. Ah, maybe I would, but that's not the point. And it's not that I don't like Amir… But that's the thing here… I do like him. He's… cool, interesting… Very interesting sense of humor. He's a nice person, I guess. But he's kinda like the Magician of Black Chaos—always teasing me. Oh, but he looks out for me, even when I don't want him to. He's a real jerk about it, though. Huh, I swear he's stalking me."

I laughed and tossed the purple helmet up in the air and caught it again. "It's weird. I've only met him for a day, and I like him. I guess I really couldn't deny it any longer," I said and gazed up at the ceiling. Not any longer? Hmm, that's funny. I was able to deny my crush on my teacher for much longer than a day! My eyebrows met, and I stared at the helmet intently. Yes, this part that I wanted to tell him was harder to let out. Even if he wasn't listening. I've just kept it inside me for so long…

"But that's how it was with you," I blurted out and shut my eyes tightly. "Here in the Shadow Realm…" I waited a few seconds and then breathed in deeply and exhaled before I went on, "But in our relationship—in the beginning, you've always been so cold and distant. I'd have no idea what was on your mind! You were my teacher, and that's how it always was. Dark Magician was the master, and Dark Magician Girl was the disciple.

It's crazy, but somehow I developed feelings for you. I don't know how. I was scared of you. I would have rather thrown myself out in a raging blizzard than be the one your icy stare was directed at. I just felt inferior to you every time you gazed at me. Why couldn't I be good enough for you? Why couldn't you praise me for my progress? And what was wrong with me? Why couldn't I do what you expected of me? I wanted to please you. I always have. I've always wanted to be the best for you."

Bitter memories came rushing back. I realized that my hands had clenched into fists and I was breathing hard, so I waited a few moments to calm down. I looked down at my palms and flexed my fingers. Master's helmet rolled from my feet to the pillar. I started again,

"And then you were summoned to that Duel. I was positive I would lose you forever. Despite the kind of person you were at the time, I couldn't bear it. And then I was summoned by the pharaoh to bring him victory. I won. And you were proud of me. I was ecstatic. For a while, I lived in a daydream. You smiled more often." I picked up his helmet from the floor and started toying with it again. "Master, you are so intimidating when you frown. You could freeze an entire crowd of monsters with a glare."

My voice was shaking, and I took a few shuddering breaths to steady myself. I blushed and said, "But you're a lot more handsome when you smile." I giggled. "So I do prefer it when _you_ smile.

"And I've learned so much from you. Sure, I told you all the Dark Magicians I've met have taught me a lot, but really, I've learned the most from you. Of course, because you're my teacher!" I hugged Master's helmet and rested my head on the pillar behind me. "Even if it may not seem like it, I always pay attention to you when you talk. So you can't scold me and say that I don't. Sure, I may not be paying attention to what you're saying, but I'm still completely concentrated on you!

"I want to thank you again," I finished, closing my eyes. "Thanks… No, thank you so much…! Thank you for bearing with me when times got tough. Thank you for not abandoning me when I was too much to handle. Thank you for sticking around for me when I needed you. Because even back then, you would never leave me all alone to fend for myself when I was afraid and helpless. You would come rescue me when I was in real trouble.

So thank you. For being there for me, for guiding me, for being someone I can respect, and for being…being…um…"

"You're welcome."

It felt like someone had thrown a bucket of ice-cold water on me. No, I think the water would have been warm compared to the chill I felt. Everything was completely silent. Even the noise outside seemed to have decreased sharply. Oh my gods…

He heard me?

Oh my gods…

A Kuriboh floated by with a guitar in its paws.

Oh my gods…

He heard me…

And yet, after a wild rampage of a range of different emotions in my head, I turned my head to face him and managed to say in a calm, casual voice, "How long have you been awake, Master?"

The light-haired Spellcaster looked over his shoulder and said, "Who said I was asleep?"

I whirled back around to hide my completely horror-struck expression. And yet my voice still hadn't gone weird on me: "So you were awake, then?"

There was laughter in his voice. "Who said I was awake?"

Man, I had no idea this Dark Magician could be so wicked if he wanted to! I coughed and said, "So… uh… which was it?"

"Mm? What are you talking about?"

He's pushing his luck.

Finally, I stretched my arms out above me and sighed. Okay, okay. There is no way I could possibly win this if it continues. "Oh, never mind."

"But I am glad you told me… about how cold and distant I was," said Master.

"Oh, I didn't really mean that…." I laughed nervously, not turning back to look at him. So, he had been listening in during that part…. "Uh… What I really meant was… um… uhh…" I think I'm trouble...

"Ever since I met you in the Shadow Realm, I've wondered how I would teach you what I know; my knowledge of magic," he said calmly, apparently disregarding my stuttering. Well, I guess it was his turn to talk. "You were a lively girl: energetic, bubbly, happy… How was I supposed to know how to deal with you? You've known me before, but somehow you managed to lose all of those memories."

Huh, it wasn't like I meant to forget! I blinked. Egypt? Was he talking about Egypt, when he was known as the Priest Mahaado, and I was his student, Mana?

"There was still much for you to learn. From my older alter ego, I gained knowledge of magic and spells that would benefit me as the Dark Magician, not the person I was before. I had no idea how I was to teach all of that to a girl that did not know who she was. You didn't even remember your name."

Smiling thoughtfully, I thought of the pharaoh's troubles. He, too, forgot his name. For his sake, I wish he could remember as easily as I did. My old friend was suffering.

"Mana…" I broke in quietly. "My name is Mana."

He said nothing for a moment. Then, "Yes. But you had no idea then. And you didn't seem to care either. I had to be strict. From then on, you were the Dark Magician Girl, and I was to instruct you. True, I had millennia to teach it to you before you would truly need it in combat, but time passes differently here in the Shadow Realm than it did in the other world. I guess only a few years here, before the Duel Monsters craze, now that I think about it."

I stared down at my hands—at myself. It was true. It seemed like forever, but… I was still young. I couldn't have aged more than three or four years. Five at the most…

"If I were to pass my knowledge to you quickly, then I had to make certain that you thought of me as nothing more than your teacher. Feelings can get in the way of thoughts, the heart clouding the mind." He sighed and with some difficulty continued, "And now you know why I isolated my emotions from you.

It was then after the Duel with Arcana did I realize that I was wrong… It's impossible to calculate the human heart. Yours, at least. And mine." He laughed cynically. "I was a fool, as the Dark Sage told me several times. From your experience, you know that I resent him, but his advice is worth listening to. So I warmed up to you, nonetheless… Your efforts improved. And from your own words, it was to please me, was it not?" I felt his eyes on me as he ended with, "Dark Magician Girl, Mana, I am thrilled with your results."

Nothing came out of my mouth. I hugged my arms and looked down at my feet. This hallway was cold. He left his spot. I sensed him standing behind me, waiting for an answer. There was so much I wanted to say, even more than I had before I confessed all of those pent-up thoughts in my mind and heart.

I turned around suddenly and wrapped my arms around his waist, pressing my cheek against his chest. I hugged him tightly. My helmet fell and hit the ground with a soft clunk and rolled next to his. "Yes but now," I finally whispered. "I almost lost you again."

Master breathed a sigh and placed a hand on my head. "Likewise," he said quietly, entwining his fingers in my thick locks of hair. His other arm wrapped around me in a warm embrace. The moment was so peaceful and still. Locked in each other's arms. Everything blending in flawlessly around us. It's a shame that time didn't stop right then and there.

* * *

So Mahaado won. He had more fans than Amir, so it was inevitable!

No, I'm joking. I needed Mahaado in the tourney for a little longer anyway. This Duel was impossible to write. I had to force myself to sit down and do the middle. Many times. The beginning and ending of this chapter weren't too hard, thank goodness. I've wanted to write the ending for a very long time. Yay! We get deeper into Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl's relationship!You could interpret the last two lines of dialogue almost any way you wanted.

Hmm… Actually, there are quite a few people here that like Amir or don't mind him all that much. (counts reviews) Uh… Some are harder to decipher than others… I think we have about five-ish... or so. Didn't have much more time to count.:D That makes me happy. As the author, it's hard for me to hate the characters I've created. Personality-wise in these circumstances. Even Maya.

Finally, a chapter that didn't end in a cliffhanger! It's a nice and fluffy landing after all those cliffies! Hopefully, to the readers, it wasn't an obvious conclusion to the Duel… I've proofread this chapter so many times that I'm beginning to regret writing it. So, I uploaded it before I decided to redo the entire thing. Eheh… Sorry this author's note is so long; I had a lot to say.

R&R, please, and be on the lookout for my next update!


	17. Don't Start Panicking

Princess of Magic

By Anime-2000

Disclaimer: I wanna own Yu-Gi-Oh! I mean—think of all the money the merchandise would make!

My little brother was watching kiddie shows as I was reviewing the emotionally critical parts of this chapter. Let me tell you, it is _hard_ to think serious, problematic relationships when the theme song of a certain purple and green dinosaur is blaring out at you as you type.

* * *

I wiped my wet hands on my dress as I exited the restroom. Geez, this is one of the most prestigious events of the year! Why don't they have paper towels for after when you finish washing your hands? They could at least install those hand dryers.

Well, then again, if Dark Sage hires monsters to attack—ah, I mean '_test'_—Dark Magicians every year, the repairs must be tremendous! This time, it would skyrocket.

Master was probably already in the bleachers. I told him not to wait for me. Partly because it really wasn't necessary, and partly because I wanted to find Amir.

Er… reasons of my own. I already know why, so I don't really need to explain to myself. But I'm having doubts. Doubting myself…

Concentrate. I closed my eyes and focused on the strands of dark magic drifting in the hallway. Most of them were pretty old, from the Sengenjin mess. I was very proud of myself when I realized that the Chaos Command Magician's light magic still lingered around here. I have been improving little by little as a mage today. All the experience I was getter as a fighter, not to mention battle techniques and all that good stuff… If this is what happens to me in this tournament, then I should come every year!

Anyhoo, two dark magic auras were fresh. Mentally, I grabbed one of them and opened my eyes. I still had a firm grip on it, and I followed it.

Unfortunately, I got lost a little while later. To keep my hold on the magic, sometimes I had to close my eyes, so that my sight would not cloud my other senses. That caused collisions with walls. "Aww…" I muttered, starting to get frustrated as I nearly crashed into my fifth. I don't have a lot of time left before my own Duel, and I wanted to straighten things out with Amir before then. I didn't want that… _kiss_ to go unexplained. I'm way too flustered about it, and I'll probably be thinking about it and get distracted! I know it was to provoke Master into fighting all-out in their Duel, but still…

"…Amir, you should be showing me more respect!" The Dark Sage's voice was strict and exasperated. It was a surprise. I must have unconsciously followed their trail of magic while I was thinking. They were right around the corner. I stayed where I was.

"I should," Amir replied coolly. "Your knowledge of magic is impressive…" I heard slow footsteps coming toward me from their direction. "And I'm supposed to honor my elders…" Holding my breath, I hoped he would stop before he saw me. I know from experience that Amir can be scary when he catches you listening in on his conversations. But I don't know whether the Dark Sage would defend me like Master did last time.

What are my options? Chances are, if I tried an invisibility spell, both Amir and the Dark Sage would still be able to see me. Master did. And, well, Mahaado could always find me no matter how well I hid myself, so that ability must have been transferred to all of the Dark Magicians… The men, at least. Maybe I should try a masking spell. Argh, there are disadvantages to knowing powerful mages, as well as the advantages.

Luckily for me, Amir came to a pause a few steps away from me. At the pace he was going, and judging by the length of his strides, I'm guessing less than four. "…but apparently, I'm not." He must have turned around; his steps were growing slightly softer. I released the air trapped in my lungs quietly. Too close. Exactly what would I tell them if that blue Dark Magician had spotted me?

The Dark Sage sighed loudly. "You're going to talk yourself into trouble someday," he informed Amir what we already knew.

"I'll talk myself out of it."

"Ah, then maybe you can _explain_ why you purposely lost…?"

"Lost what?" asked Amir, somewhat sharply.

"The Duel with my former apprentice. You ended it right there and accepted defeat. It couldn't have been just because he said it was over. That's not like you. So why?"

I let my back fall lightly against the wall and slid to a sitting position on the floor. My cheery mood slowly ebbed away and was substituted by anxiety. The heat from my face replaced with cold sweat. What's going on? I placed my face in my hands. Does this mean I'll have a new teacher after all? Tch, I don't know where to even begin on the unfairness of all of this!

The rest of the conversation still went on.

"There is no explanation worth telling." I jerked my head up, expecting to see Master. But there was no purple Dark Magician. I glanced around but only saw the two shadows that belonged to Amir and the Dark Sage. Weird, I could've sworn I heard Master speaking! "At least none that you don't know of."

And then it hit me. Real hard. I covered my mouth with both hands, not sure whether I was suppressing a laugh or a gasp. Turns out it was a laugh. Oh wow—Master and Amir had identical voices. The only difference was the way they used it. I can't believe I just realized it! But then again, it would be pretty hard to hear the similarities. Master always talked with such a serious, _mysterious_ intensity that could make shivers run down your spine if he wanted. Meanwhile, Amir was whimsical with his remarks, and it seemed like nothing was ever troubling him.

I suppose I just figured it out now because I couldn't see whose mouth the voice came out of. But maybe I should've noticed it after Amir's Duel with Cliff… Made me wonder about Black Magician's voice, too.

But now, the blue Dark Magician was being serious. Oh wait—hold on… Actually, although it may sound almost exactly the same as Master's, after a couple more seconds of listening, I realized that even if he tried, there will always be a tiny difference. Amir was Amir, just as Master was Master. "…and I'm sure you don't want to hear my reason. It's obvious enough," Amir was saying.

"Hmph," grunted the Dark Sage indignantly. "Try me."

"Okay." I couldn't help but notice that his voice sounded a lot less like Master's and more like himself. I braced myself for _Amir's_ answer: "It's dumb to use waste so much energy in a Duel during the last few rounds of this tournament. I figured Mahaado would want some magic left for his next Duel."

If Dark Sage could, I'm sure he would've done an anime fall. But since he's way too refined and (let's face it) elderly, he just couldn't. "Bah, I can't believe you. Wanting the best for him… You liar." He sounded disgusted.

"Mm. Fine. I used up too much magic in the Duel, and I didn't feel like overexerting myself today. How about that?"

"Don't even try it; I know when you're being insincere. Look, I know Dark Magician Girl may be a lot to handle—" I don't care if he doesn't notice my presence, but darnit, I'm right here! "—but I can't let her be trained by a man that could very easily fall in love with her!"

My face fell back into my palms. I wanted to bang my head against the wall repeatedly, but then they'd hear me. Aw, geeeeeez—He did _not_ just tell _Amir_ that. He did _not…_ I bit my lower lip. It took a lot self-control to keep myself from jumping right out in the open and yelling at my Master's teacher. I don't think I'll ever hear the end of this from Amir…

"So why would you turn to me?"

This was a different reaction. Different from what I had expected. I continued to blush but looked up. With my hands on the wall behind me, I pushed myself to my feet. Woo… Too fast. Dizziness swarmed through my head like bees. Then again, I was feeling lightheaded for a while. Especially after Amir's reply. I dared a peek at the two. The Master of Spells gave Amir a calm but stern look. The younger mage had his hands clasped behind him, his face relaxed. It was hard to tell what either of them was thinking.

Quickly ducking out of sight again, I replayed what I had heard of the conversation again in my mind. The butterflies had returned to my stomach.

"Amir," Dark Sage addressed him with a cool tone, as if the previous sentence had never been uttered. "I believe that you would make a better teacher. So enough with your false excuses."

"Well, I don't," came the other magician's blunt response. Then, "She is happy. Everyone is happy with the current settings that we're in. Just let her stay as she is. It doesn't matter if you're the wisest of us all. Sometimes we know what's best for us and don't need you to judge whether we'll be happy or not." I grinned. All right! Maybe my life won't take a drastic turn for the worst after all! I guess Amir's not all that bad, huh…?

Dark Sage sounded slightly offended. "I don't treat you all like _game pieces!"_

"Oh no," Amir said sarcastically. "Slifer forbid. I'm sure that's what you told the Sengenjin as well, eh?"

Yep, Amir's the best when it comes to creating awkward episodes of absolute stillness.

Finally Amir himself broke the silence. "Yes," he admitted in mock shame, "it took me too long to figure out. I should've realized it last year when I thought I saw your shadow right before those goblins attacked us. But it slipped from my mind after the tournament, and I didn't think about it again until today."

It was still quiet as death. So he went on, "But what really tipped me off was that every year, the Chaos Command Magician would be very well informed on the attackers, the timing, and just about everything else. He is very educated, I know, but something was wrong about the way he would know all their battle strategies only when we couldn't figure it out. Of course, I knew for a fact that you two were friends, and many of the spells and traps equipped on the assassins could be found in your magic store."

Ellipses!

"And I've always wondered why they never targeted Dark Paladin," Amir continued after another awful pause. "Am I correct in assuming that he's in on this, too? Or was he just too powerful? Still, why would they only target Dark Magicians? Were they jealous that we won the title practically every year?"

It's eerily amazing how easily he's hitting every single nail dead on the head. In mere seconds, he uncovered some stuff I hadn't even thought of!

"And I'm assuming there's one more person in on this that no one would ever think of…" Amir finished, pretending to be thoughtful as he announced, "I'm willing to bet… Dark Magician Girl?"

Every single freakin' nail. How scary.

"You could not have figured all that out by yourself," the Dark Sage said. Just like that. I was wondering whether it was just from shock or he really didn't care. If I were him, I would definitely be concerned! Panicking! I could never willingly trust Amir with _any_ of my secrets—especially one of that magnitude!

"You offend me," said Amir. Then, he laughed and agreed, "Yeah. Absolutely. I was talking to the Chaos Command Magician a little while ago today. He uh… let it slip."

Sighing, the Dark Sage said, "Then I'll have to talk to him about that… Meanwhile, steer clear of that light magician. For someone so apathetic to everything, he has a wicked temper."

"Don't worry about it." Amir's footsteps started again. "And I won't tell. Although, I'd like a more thorough explanation later, if you have time. It sounded fun." They hadn't noticed me? During their conversation, they didn't feel my presence even once? I felt relieved, until I realized my new predicament.

Amir turned the corner and saw me. He smiled… smirked. By golly, I should've run while I had the chance. I held a finger to my lips, the 'shh!' signal. Amir's grin widened, and he looked over to the older mage. "Oh, and one more thing before we part…"

"What is it?" Dark Sage sounded tired.

My jaw dropped. I made slitting motions across my throat with my hand and glared at him.

"May I request for ninjas next year?"

--

It was quiet. I was surprised. Amir and I walked down the hall, _quietly._ Which ruined my plans because I had intended to let my question _casually_ slip up during our conversation. Grr…

I glanced at him for a moment, realizing that he didn't have his helmet on. I asked him about it. Amir just held a hand out in front of me. I stared at it, confused. He closed his fingers over his palm. When his fist opened again, I saw a pile of ash in his palm. "Ah?" I gasped, dumbfounded. Bad move. He blew the pile in my face. I coughed and sneezed. Waving my right hand to fan away the lingering ash in the air, I rubbed my nose with my left. "That bad, huh?" Wow, a helmet must've been toast after THAT Dark Magic Attack. I'm glad I had Master's safe with me.

"Beyond repair," he answered and allowed me to brush the rest of the soot off of me in silence. Agh, it was hard to believe he was so talkative a few moments ago! How do I ask him?

I felt his eyes on me, and I looked up at him. Unlike many guys I know, who would suddenly turn away, Amir just chuckled. Startled, I asked, "What? What's wrong?" All of the sudden, I felt very self-conscious.

"Hmm, it's nothing," he said, shaking his head, his blond hair swaying. "You just had this look on concentration on your face. Determined about something." I blushed and turned my attention to anything but him. But I shouldn't be surprised by the news that my thoughts were broadcasted on my face. It happened too often, and I should've been more careful this time… He turned to me and said, "So. What's on your mind?"

"I hate my face," I replied, purposely knocking my visor over it.

"Too bad." I heard amusement in his voice. "It's very pretty."

"That's it." I deftly flicked the pink-and-blue visor back over my bangs with a finger and whirled around to face him, my hands clenched tightly at my sides. I was very defensive. "What was that kiss all about! Was it just to provoke Master into fighting you with all he had?"

"Partly," Amir answered casually, as if my question was as pointless as the Thousand Eyes Idol. "Why do you ask?" he said, brushing a smudge of ash, that I must have missed, off the pink spot under my eye with a thumb. He held my chin delicately in his hand. He smiled. "You want another?"

I turned redder as my heart pounded more furiously. His touched burned like fire. My arm instinctively shot up, and my palm rammed into his chest in a block. I pushed all stray thoughts out of my mind and concentrated on my interrogation. "I don't know what you're doing, but this has to stop!" He didn't say anything. Just looked at me inquiringly. "I don't understand you! First you slam me into a wall and tell me my training is insufficient; then you're nice to me and let me borrow your seat—and then you get all mad at me again; and—and then you kiss me! Which is it? This isn't a game!"

Amir stared at me for a few seconds and then shrugged. He pulled his hand away. "I don't know." He didn't look away. He just stared at me with a confidence that made me want to divert my eyes elsewhere. "Which is it to you?"

I stared into his blue eyes, refusing to back down. "Not love," I said firmly. "At least, not _in_ love."

"I see," he said with a small nod. "I can understand that." I scanned his face carefully for any hints of his emotions. All I could see was indifference. Like Master, he could put on a tranquil mask when he wanted to. I need to learn to do that. He finally broke eye contact and gazed ahead of us. "I'm glad I lost. I could never just think of you as my student anymore." 'Anymore' meaning when you, Master, and Black Magician were still one person? "Which is good because now I can… That is to say… You won't mind if I keep…" He sighed, faking frustration. I raised my brows curiously as his old personality returned in a blink of an eye. "What's the term…? Keep…" He looked up at the ceiling contemplatively and then back down at me with this indescribable smirk. "You won't mind if I keep _flirting,_ right?"

Don't laugh, don't laugh. "Hmph! It depends on exactly what your definition of 'flirting' is." I really should have hit him, but I was glad to see him back to normal again. Strange, huh? "Some girls might not appreciate you humiliating them in a Duel."

He handed a book to me. Just like that. Out of the blue. "Heh, touché. But I'm not chasing after other girls, now am I?" I felt the heat rising up my neck again and didn't respond. "I think I hear Mahaado coming," he told me as I accepted the thick, yellow-paged volume one of some arcane spellbook series that I couldn't read. Yet. "Give him my warmest regards, Dark Magician Girl."

The blue-armored magician snapped his fingers, as if remembering something. "Oh, and sorry about the Duel. I think we fought a little too roughly, so you probably had to suffer through some of it. Hm, I'll see you later." Amir ruffled my hair and with a sardonic salute, he left me for a nearby hallway. I took off my helmet to smooth down my hair. Man… I still wanted to say something to him, but nothing came up.

He was gone.

I put my helmet back on. "Dark Magician Girl?" I whirled around to face Master. Amir had left just in time.

"Eh? Oh, Master!" I said, feigning surprise. "What are you doing here in the halls?"

"What am I doing here?" he repeated, giving my visor a light tap upward to straighten it. He didn't seem to notice anything wrong. That's a good sign. "What are you _still_ doing here?"

I suddenly remembered my Duel. "Oh no! I'm so sorry—I… I…" I stammered, feeling alarmed and furious with myself. The rules are that if contestants were … what was it, ten minutes?… If contestants were too late to their Duel, then they were out of the tournament. Master looked at me with a bemused expression on his face, his eyebrows rising. I just groaned and placed my face in my hands. "I'm disqualified for not showing up to my Duel, aren't I?" I asked, looking up at him through my fingers.

Shaking his head slowly, Master said, "No…" He seemed slightly distracted as he tried to avoid eye contact with me. Almost sheepishly, he mumbled, "They… They haven't finished repairing the Dueling arena yet."

"Oh, that's right!" I sighed, relieved. Smacking a fist in an open palm, I said, "You and Amir annihilated it! How much has been fixed…?" Eeg, I need to watch my mouth. Unlike Amir, I usually can't talk myself out of trouble. Especially with the Magician of Black Chaos. I've shared some incredibly awkward moments with him; namely when we were in the Graveyard after the Noa vs. Yami Duel, and of course recently today…

Anyway, Master just looked embarrassed. Plain and simple. I blushed too. "Right," he said, turning his back to me. "Our Duel was very destructive…" He looked up and back at me. "I'm very sorry about that. All those Dark Magic Attacks must have taken a toll on you—"

"No, I was fine!" I lied almost instantly. Of course, he knew. He knows me too well.

"Mm." He nodded, and gave me a small smile. Thankfully, he didn't elaborate on that any further. "And keep in mind not to cause too much trouble in front of the Chaos Command Magician… Amir will probably figure that out later."

Wasn't that what the Dark Sage was saying? Tilting my head to the side, I was tempted to ask how, but I decided against it. Heheh, it wasn't worth it. "Oh, okay," I laughed, running to his side. It was simple to change the subject, seeing as how Master was so uneasy with the current topic. "Amir must have been a really tough opponent! I've never seen you fight so hard before! It was amazing. Could you teach me stuff like that?"

"Hmm." His voice was distant, his attention diverted. After knowing him for so long, I was used to it, but that doesn't mean I liked it. He was warming up, it's true, but there were still times when he seemed like a completely different person. He wouldn't be the Dark Magician without those moments. So I just let them pass when he was ready.

"…Master…?"

He gave an agitated sigh and admitted, "I don't know if I won that Duel or not."

My eyebrows knit together questioningly. "You were the official winner—"

"'Official'…" Master repeated scornfully, closing his eyes. He turned away from me and walked down the hall at a brisk pace. I followed him. The entire issue had already been settled between the Dark Sage and Amir, but I wanted to hear my mentor's side of the story. He was so uncharacteristically uptight over this whole thing! Amir let him win? Every time something is explained, more questions arise!

I ran ahead and positioned myself in front of him with my feet planted firmly on the ground. "Master, tell me what's wrong!" I don't know whether my voice showed it or not, but I would not move until he told me what was bothering him. Whatever it was, it seemed like it was eating him up from the inside.

A moment of complete quiet settled around us. Master looked as if he was searching for the right words to say. Or how to explain. I waited patiently. Even if it might cause me to miss my Duel, I had to hear it.

"That last Dark Magic Attack," he said, looking out one of those windows in the wall. It was dark outside. We must've missed the sunset. Of course, then again, it was so cloudy… I doubt we would've have seen a really good one. "There was a dome of black magic surrounding us, expanding across the playing field, the Dark Magic Attack." I turned back to the Dark Magician in front of me and nodded slowly, understanding what he meant. "It created a soundproof barrier."

Nodding again, I managed an, "Uh huh…"

"It was then that Amir told me he wanted me to win." I blinked, wanting to comment. Nothing came out of my mouth, so I closed it. Master was too disconcerted to notice and went on, "He said he was willing to lose this year on purpose, and no one would have to know. I could claim an amazing victory to an amazing Duel, and he would accept his loss easily. I asked him why… He said it was for personal reasons… And it was for your sake, Dark Magician Girl."

"Well, yeah, he didn't want me as his student…" I reminded him but mumbling most of my words.

Master placed a hand to his chin, as if digesting what I had said for the first time. "Really, was that it? How would that work out?"

"Um… it was at the beginning of my big monologue, remember?" I asked, feeling my face burn at the memory.

Smiling slightly, the purple mage took his hand away from his face and waved it in front of him as he confessed, "I'm sorry, Dark Magician Girl, I really was asleep for the first part of it. I only heard the 'but in the beginning, you've always been so cold and distant' and everything after that." My legs felt weak, either from shock or the revelation that I may have to tell him the whole Amir issue _again._ It was hard enough the first time, and I only told him because he was asleep!

I realized that I was biting my lip again, so I quit. Laughing lightly, I waved it off, too. "Oh well, no matter. Dark Sage just wanted Amir to take over my education if he won." Master raised a brow at the new information. I quickly, and as cheerily as possible, said, "But you won anyway, and those two have already talked, and there's really nothing more to discuss over it, and you don't have to worry about it…Uh…" I sweatdropped. Man, tension was a horrible thing.

Master just shook his head. "I have nothing to say to that… I just thought that… No. No, but you're right," he added hastily as my telltale face must have betrayed my worry. "There's nothing more to discuss. If Amir and the Dark Sage have settled it, then…" He trailed off rather lamely. I think he noticed it, too.

We avoided eye contact for a few minutes as we strolled down the hall. I made a few stabs at conversation, but to be honest, if I was using a real knife instead of figurative speech, I would have probably ended up hurting myself. I mean, seriously—the weather was out of question, I didn't want to think about the tournament, and then my mind turned blank. It was awful.

At last, his tone _too_ uninterested, Master said, "Why in Ra's name would he not tell me?"

"Huh—Who?"

"Come to think of it, why would both the Dark Sage _and_ Amir neglect to inform me of this… wager?"

Shrugging casually, I suggested, "You know how the Dark Sage loves messing around with you…" My teacher rolled his eyes at that. "Um… And Amir's just weird like that." I grinned. "So it makes perfect sense!"

"If you say so." He quickened his pace.

This wasn't over yet. I felt that there were still too many mixed emotions and hurt feelings. Who was hurt, I couldn't tell, but I was definitely confused about my relationship with two certain Dark Magicians. But I think I could understand what one of them was thinking. Well, actually maybe both of them. "Master…" I said carefully, speeding up with him. I only had one chance at this, and if I messed up with even a single sentence, things could go awry. "Master, how would you feel if… if you had to make the decision Amir was faced with?"

"And what do you mean by that?"

"Ahhh," I sighed, jerking out a hand to latch onto his arm to keep him from walking away. This guy moved too quickly! Master stood still and gazed at me expectantly. "Dark Sage said Amir was the best candidate for me. And if Amir went easy on you or just let you win like… he just did…" This was not going well. "…you wouldn't have won…" Oh boy, I really hope I do get another chance at that.

Master blinked and then said, "Very enlightening, but that wasn't the answer my question was seeking."

Blushing, I apologized, "Sorry, I didn't explain it well enough." I started again, "If you had known that the fight was for me, would you have willingly accepted the victory? If you had known that I was the big prize for winning that Duel, would you have taken the win as well as you did when Amir told you that it was for my _sake_ and not just _me_?"

"…" Master looked down at me and gently pulled his arm from my grasp. He continued walking again. "No." His voice was firm. "Of course not. I see your point." Then, a little—scratch that; a LOT—more stiffly, he said, "If I had been Amir, I… I suppose I would have done the same thing."

"Great!" I said enthusiastically. As somewhat of a payback for freaking me out with the whole "I'm-not-asleep-or-was-I?" thing, I added on, "See, you and Amir are alike in a lot of ways!"

He looked back at me, his eyes widening. "Are you comparing me to him?"

I gave him a thumbs-up. "Yes, sir!" I chirped, remembering how Amir had asked me the same question a little while ago.

"I see…" Master clearly did not. He laughed softly and shrugged it off. "And out of curiosity, what is that book that you've been carrying around all this time?" I glanced down at the spellbook in my hand that he was pointing to.

"Amir—" I couldn't help but notice how Master's eye twitched involuntarily at the name. "—wanted to give this to you," I told him, holding it out in front of me. Master walked back and took the volume from my hands. "So… um…" I said apprehensively, peering down at the inside of the book as he flipped through its old pages. "Was this the book Amir took a couple of years ago?"

Master gave me a surprised look, as if wondering how I knew about it. He must have figured out what my sources were. I kinda made out "chaos" and "talks" and I think "idiot" when he started muttering under his breath. His mood did not improve, apparently, as he slammed the book shut. Dust shook from the pages and into the air. I coughed into my hand and backed away. Master's expression was incredibly unforgiving. He released the book, which vanished in another puff. "I wasn't even _aware_ that he stole _this one_, too."

Such hostility. I sighed and giggled inwardly. Master would never stop being angry with Amir, and Amir seemed determined to make that true. There was really no hope for those two, was there?

Then I remembered the whole voice similarity thing, and my mouth unexpectedly voiced my thoughts aloud. At the worst possible time: "So, Master, do you think you could _talk_ like Amir?"

Wow.

I don't think I've ever seen Master laugh that hard before.

--

"Y'know, we've only got 'till midnight! You could hurry it up!" the Witty Phantom's voice was loud and raucous after a day of making snide comments and fighting the Unhappy Maiden for possession of the microphone. Which he got in the end, sadly. The Unhappy Maiden had given up and was using the magic of the field as her only voice amplifier.

The Chaos Command Magician looked back at the Fiend. "Silence." The stadium shook as the light magician's outstretched hands clenched shut. "The damage to the battlefield has been difficult to mend, but unless you wish to employ your abject powers in aiding me instead of diverting my attention with your annoying little remarks that seem to demand answers, then I suggest you keep your mouth closed." There was an eerie edge to his voice, and the red-faced announcer made a smart move and clamped his jaws shut. The mage rolled his eyes and turned back to his work.

His light magic was slowly mending the Dueling field, bringing the split ground together and sealing the cracks. The entire arena glowed, throwing the light on the clouds hanging overhead and making the night seem less dark and invading.

Mystical Elf held a hand to her eyes. Master and the Magician of Black Chaos were immersed in another one of their heated argument inside the invisible walls of a soundproof barrier. All I could do was stare at them questioningly as curiosity ate away at me. Why do they keep doing that? What could be so important that they would set up a—I felt a light tug on my cape.

"Dark Magician Girl, the field's done!" said my elven friend cheerfully pointing to the field. The light had dimmed, but it didn't completely vanish, which left the field lit up for my Duel.

The Magician of Black Chaos waved a hand in front of him as if he was giving up the verbal fight with my teacher. He canceled the barrier and stood up. "Fine, fine! I'll go easy, all right?"

Master gave him a reproachful glare. "Not all right. If something happens—"

"_O_-kay, Dark Magician Girl!" the chaos mage behind me extended a hand to me. "Shall we go?"

I stared at his palm. "Huh?"

Smiling pleasantly, Mystical Elf waved and said, "Good luck, both of you!"

"If you send her to the Graveyard…" Master warned, glaring at the ritual mage.

"Yes, let's!" the Magician of Black Chaos hastily answered for me and grabbed my wrist. He raced toward the halls, dragging me along with him.

Master's voice followed us inside, "…I'll blast you there to find her!"

I stared, dazed as the black-haired mage pulled me along with him down the halls. "Hold on!" I gasped, digging my heels into the floor. Unlike Amir, this Dark Magician stopped. I jabbed my thumbs into my collarbone, saying, "_I'm_ Dueling _you?_" With that, I pulled my hands away from me to poke him in the chest.

"Yep," he said, beaming at me. "But don't worry; Dark hinted that he wanted me to go easy on you." I sweatdropped and blushed. _Hinted?_ More like _threatened_ to me. "Of course, that's to be expected…" I caught him saying.

"What do you mean?" I asked, wondering if he was still talking about Master.

The Magician of Black Chaos folded his arms behind him and strolled leisurely toward the entrance to the arena. He stopped about five feet away and looked over his shoulder. A slightly derisive smirk was etched on his face. "What I mean is that you wouldn't stand a chance against me if I went all out on you."

Uh…Wha—_What?_ "You jerk!" I shrieked and flung my wand at him.

The other mage snatched it out of the air and twirled it around a couple of times in front of him. He threw it up above his head. "Well, how do you think _you'll_ do against _me_, DMG?" he asked as he caught it with one hand and began twirling it around again. I turned away. The light from the field made our shadows stretch out like pillars. What he said was probably true, but he didn't have to say it so smugly! I looked up in time to see my wand flying toward me and caught it. The Magician of Black Chaos brandished his own black staff before him. He entered the Dueling field. "Good luck, then."

He sounded serious. For the sake of my pride, I wanted him to fight fair and not give me a handicap. But common sense told me it would be a bad idea. I sighed and followed him outside. It felt like my limbs were shaking, but after a quick look, I realized they were still. Okay…

"Ah! The final contestants for the third round have shown up without being called upon!" exclaimed the Unhappy Maiden. "Great, that saves us some time! We can begin the Duel now! The Dark Magician Girl against the Magician of Black Chaos!"

I stood before my opponent and extended a hand out. The Magician of Black Chaos took it firmly and shook lightly. He smiled, releasing my hand, and he walked casually to his side of the field. I retreated to my side, becoming more and more unnerved. That grin was mischievous. He was up to something.

Both the Witty Phantom and the Unhappy Maiden announced, "DUEL!"

He was gone in a blur! The Magician of Black Chaos just _vanished!_ I scanned the area around me warily, expecting to see him pop out anywhere. I looked back, hoping he wasn't behind me and attacking my Lifepoints already. The Duel had only begun!

I felt a tremendous dark magic aura in front of my and whipped my head back around to see the black-clad mage standing in front of me with a hand out. His grin did not fade. "Care for a dance, Miss?" he asked, grasping my arm and yanking me out to the center of the field. I stumbled clumsily, and crashed into something warm. It was the Magician of Black Chaos.

That _jerk_ took my hand and actually _spun_ me around like a top! I twisted myself to a stop, but the effects of dizziness didn't wear off. I clutched my head with a hand as I staggered back.

A Chaos Sceptre Attack exploded behind me. I sailed through the air and collided into him again. He caught me in his arms, much like how the Chaos Command Magician had earlier today, and just stood there, smiling at me. "Having fun?"

"Ngh." I shook my head in reply but found that it hurt my head more. "Put me down!" I snarled, making a swing at him with my wand. He disappeared again and let me drop. I landed on my feet. "Magician of Black Chaos!" I roared, growing very aggravated with his antics. "This is NOT funny!"

A magical attack hit me from the side. Before I had a chance to recover, another one shot out from the other side. I saw that it was like a miniature Chaos Sceptre Attack as I leapt back to avoid it. Another one hurled itself at me from behind before I even landed. "Agh!" I crashed into the ground. Oww, my gods…! Huh, the Chaos Command Magician must've made it harder when he fixed the arena…

There was a crackle above me. I pushed myself up to see the ribbon of magic darting towards me. With a panicked cry, I rolled away as it smashed into the ground beside. To my utmost horror, it followed me, so I had to keep rolling away until it had exhausted itself and left a seven-foot long gash in the field. My head was spinning. Another Chaos Sceptre Attack rammed into me.

I gasped, tumbling several feet away from my spot. I would've gotten back up, but I had a feeling another attack would send me crashing back down. I willed my tense muscles to relax. But it was hard. I was so angry!

"Giving up already?" The Magician of Black Chaos sounded disappointed. I opened my eyes and looked up. His Lifepoints were right in front of me. The magician, himself, was perched on it with an elbow on his leg, the arm reaching upward to a palm in which he rested his chin on. "That's not like you. Usually, you'd be up and ready to rip my hair from my head."

I sat up and stared into his deep, magenta eyes with fury burning up inside of me. "It's your _eyes_ I wanna rip out!" I snapped, pounding a fist into the ground.

He gave me a faint smile. "Then try."

"You jerk," I repeated venomously, continuing to glare at him.

"Don't you want me to go easy on you?"

Pride overwhelmed common sense. "NO!" I yelled at him, pointing my wand at him. "This isn't just you taking it easy on me! You're taunting me! Mocking me!" His eyebrows rose. I continued to rage on, "I don't know why you're acting like such a creep right now, but you don't have to take it out on me! I'd rather be an opponent than this humiliating scapegoat you've turned me into!"

The Magician of Black Chaos raised his head a little. "You're fighting me now, so I would say you are an opponent." His eyes narrowed slightly, challengingly. "What is it that you're trying to say?"

I snorted and folded my arms. "You're messing around with me! I demand an actual battle! DUEL me! Go all out! As long as I'm your _opponent_ and not some doll!"

He stared at me and then sighed. Grinning, he sprang out of his sitting positing and landed in front of me. The chaos magician reached a hand out to me. "Tch. It would've saved you a lot of trouble if you had said that in the beginning," he told me, looking at me like a true rival and not some little girl he was babysitting. Still, I stared at him suspiciously…

"But then you would have thought that I was just kidding around," I replied, finally taking his hand. He pulled me up but didn't let go, as I was expecting him to.

"Fine, then," he said, shaking my hand. "Let's take it from the beginning." I stared at him questioningly. The Magician of Black Chaos nodded and let go of my hand. He rested his staff on his shoulder. "The Duel. Let's face it; the first half was a joke. But since I have to be serious now, let's start over."

* * *

_That chaos mage can be a real pain sometimes…_

I'm so glad I don't have a big brother figure like that. (_Shut up, Anime._) The Magician of Black Chaos is so out of character with his anime and manga self… But I guess he sobers up when it comes to more life-threatening Duels. Whereas everything here is more like a joke. He'll be more serious in _Magic Control. _;)

Ack, something was wrong with me. I'm kinda annoyed at myself when I say this chapter lacked some charisma that I usually put in. (is all freaked out now) I hope I'm not losing my touch. Once again, if you find any weird errors in the story or grammar/spelling problems, put it in the review, and I'll check it out.

Looks like the tense chapter endings have returned again. I'm sorry, everyone. And on a different note, _Princess of Magic_ is drawing to a conclusion soon, so… um… Well, not much to say about that. I'm expecting seven or less chapters before this fic comes to an end and the third installment of the trilogy begins! Ahem, ahem!

R&R, please!


	18. Lessons Worth Learning

Princess of Magic

By Anime-2000

Disclaimer: We've been through this countless times… I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!

**_Feel free to ignore the following Author's Note. Anime's going crazy. She's ranting._**

…I… just about… went crazy trying to figure out how to write this Duel. It was so _short._ Ack… It's finally done, at least… Now I gotta worry about the next Duel. And by golly, why won't authors update the stories on my favorites list? Write, write, write, people! (Note: Please forgive Anime for being such a hypocrite.) What happened to summer…? Wha—? The Egypt arc's not coming to the U.S? Or are they just cramming it into the Grand Prix arc and say that it's only _one season?_ (sobs quietly in a corner)

* * *

"Dark Magician Girl has really proven herself to be a formidable opponent! A rookie like her Dueling a seasoned mage like the Magician of Black Chaos will, no doubt, hold some unexpected and remarkable results!" announced the Unhappy Maiden exuberantly. I could barely hear her voice breaking through the dim roar of the crowd. It sounded far away. 

My attention strayed from the Magician of Black Chaos for a moment, but that was all he needed.

Just as my thoughts shifted from the Duel to my surroundings, he attacked. Mentally cursing my absentmindedness, I jumped back, and the sphere of magic crashed into the spot I had been standing in a few moments ago. Giving a frustrated growl, I brushed my bangs out of my eyes. This was not working out whatsoever! The Magician of Black Chaos was incredibly strong, and he wasn't even fighting with full power! He was definitely more serious now; he wasn't toying with me, and he said that he's going all out. But I'm certain there was something in his subconscious holding him back. He could have annihilated me if he wanted to.

Another attack whisked past me. I could smell my hair burning as it glided past my straw-colored locks. He smirked and closed in on me. I grunted and held my wand up to block his staff.

I've seen this guy fight other Duel Monsters, the ones who were much more powerful than me. Especially in Duels, when Yami—the pharaoh… Well, especially when he was summoned in a Duel. He was scary. I could've sworn the Magician of Black Chaos then and this one, the one who's was pretty much creaming me in this Duel now, were two different magicians!

KLACK! Our weapons connected, sending a jolt through my body. I winced. "Having trouble?" he asked, beaming.

"Maybe," I said, copying his smile. "Maybe not!" He blinked in surprise as I ducked down on my hands. "HA!" My legs swung into his shins as he stumbled forward, falling.

His palm smacked into the ground, and he pushed off into the air. Stunned, I stayed in the same position I was as he did a flip and landed safely on his feet. "Nice try," he said, straightening his headdress, "but I know all your tricks. Unlike you, I actually pay attention to the Duels between those who I consider to be commendable opponents."

"'Commendable?'" I laughed and got up. It was a bad, suicidal idea, but I just had to say it: "Oh, so you think I pose a threat to you?"

He gave me the evil eye, spinning his staff in his fingers before pointing it at me. "Forget it." He seems a little high-strung over that. "Chaos Sceptre Attack!" Ah—that was a dumb thing to say. Very dumb. I sprang out of the attack's way and bounded toward him.

"Dark Burning Attack!" The crescent-shaped magic attack shot out of my wand, spiraling toward him.

The Magician of Black Chaos crossed his forearms in front of him. The Unhappy Maiden cried, "Bulls-eye!" as he was forced back by the sheer force of my magic. I gasped, amazed that I had actually landed a blow on him. "Who would've thought! But did it do anything…?"

She sounded hopeful, but I frowned, realizing that no, it did not. He took my attack head-on! If he had considered it dangerous, then he would have gotten out of the way. That Spellcaster was just too darn powerful; I know I can't beat him by brute force, but he was swift, too. My speed and Dark Burning Attack wouldn't help me all that much in this Duel. Despite his negligent attitude, his Lifepoints were well guarded.

My opponent brushed away the remaining magic left from my attack out of the air and sighed, "Whew, not bad at all. Yeah, you've gotten stronger."

"Really?" Pink tinged my face. For the Magician of Black Chaos, who's always thought of me as a weak little girl, this was a huge compliment…! "Th-thanks…?"

"But…" He darted towards me. In an instant, his staff smashed into mine. It would've been me, if I hadn't raised my wand up just in time. "I'm still a lot better than you," he said lightly. I made a face. Oh, arrogant, arrogant as always. Was that just a trick to lower my guard? Geez… if it was, how could I have _fallen_ for it? I winced as he pushed down harder on me. My arms were protesting under the strain. Ra, if this kept up, he would crush me! But would he? Just to win? Hmph, I wasn't about to wait to see which was true.

"D…" Master could unleash a Dark Magic Attack with no medium other than his hand. Most of the time, I still needed my wand, but even if it wasn't pointed straight at the Magician of Black Chaos, I could probably repel him… I unclenched my fists, my wand still pressed against my palms by the chaos magician's staff. Channel the energy! "Dark Burning Attack!"

Dark magic rushed out of me and rammed into the mage before me. The backlash pushed me back… but that was expected…! "Tch!" The level-eight magician flew back but landed safely. He gave me a hard look but then smirked. "Bad move. You just used up a lot of magic with that maneuver."

"Oh yeah?" There was no point in me trying to bluff my way out of that. He was right… My legs felt weak, and the thought of collapsing was actually welcomed by my tired mind. But other than that, it wasn't necessarily a bad move. As long as the next one worked. If not, then yes, it would have been a bad move. I would lose.

I ignored my complaining body and dashed toward the Magician of Black Chaos. He stepped back, but I didn't let him do anything else. In a second, I was in front of him. And in another, I had leapt up and kicked off his shoulder. I looked back and laughed to see him stumble forward and spin around with a completely bewildered look on his face. He had definitely been expecting something else.

"Quite an unforeseen maneuver pulled off by the Dark Magician Girl!" the Unhappy Maiden exclaimed as the entire audience cheered vehemently. My feet met the ground a little sooner than I had anticipated. A sharp sensation flashed through my ankles and up my legs. I winced but forced myself to run. "This Duel seems to have really taken its toll on Dark Magician Girl!" she said, worriedly. "But she's been able to pull remarkable victories out of the jaws of defeat before! But this time…?"

"Pshaw! No way!" the Witty Phantom jeered, adding in his unnecessary two cents. "She was just really lucky all those times. And as we all know, luck runs out."

"We'll see!" I murmured, raising my wand above me. I closed my eyes and concentrated my magic on the summoning. _Come on._ "Graceful Dice!"

The doll-like magical being appeared above me. 'Its about time you summoned us! And here we thought you were still mad at us for ditching you!' I grinned in relief as I neared the Magician of Black Chaos' Lifepoints. A few hours ago, I would have bashed him with my wand for abandoning me. Right now, I couldn't have been happier to see him! 'You could really use a power boost, Dark Magician Girl!' Graceful hurled his die at me.

"Reverse Trap!"

I looked back just in time to see the Magician of Black Chaos summon his trap. A red-robed phantom hovered in front of him. I felt a chill in the air as it lifted its hands. Its fingers stretched toward me. Graceful cursed.

As soon as the die hit me, I felt as if huge stone blocks had been chained to all of my limbs. "Agh…!" Everything was pulling down on me. I fell to my hands and knees as the rest of my energy drained away. The die fell beside me, red with two white dots. "D-Dark Burning Attack!" I slammed my wand the Lifepoints, but they only lowered to 2000. Everything blurred before me. There goes the rest of my magic…

"Another bad move," I heard the Magician of Black Chaos and squinted back. He was only a few feet away from me, a thin black figure. "I knew you had a Graceful Dice, and I countered it easily with a Reverse Trap… which obviously reverses the effects of your spell." He told me, with a kind of 'disappointed' tone, "Man, I had definitely expected better of you!" I sucked in a deep breath. My nails dug into the ground as I tried to hold back my anger. Was he _scolding_ me? "Now get away from my Lifepoints." He jabbed his staff into the ground.

It erupted beneath me. I was thrown high into the air. But I felt invigorated, somehow… Oh…

Moron.

I willed my body to absorb as much of the attack as I could before it completely vanished. How could I have been so STUPID? It was one of the most important things that black-clad mage ever taught me! I lessened my fall by somersaulting as I landed. Instantly, I was back on my feet again. Turning to my dear, _dear_ opponent, I threw my arms up and shouted, "Thank you _so_ much!"

The Magician of Black Chaos snorted and said, "Ah, can't believe I forgot about that…" He rolled his eyes and said with a teasing smirk, "Ha, rechargeable battery." Just this once, I am going to let him get away with that. "So what's this, then? Are you using my own lessons against me now?" I just beamed at him. This time, _he_ was the one that copied _me_. "Two can play at that game, Dark Magician Girl."

I blinked.

"For example, I learned that you like making rash decisions and then hoping that everything will turn out okay!" He was standing right in front of me. I gave a surprised squeak, but he grabbed both my arms before I could turn around and run. He _flung_ me high into the air. "Ally-oop!" He has it so wrong… He's just using this as an excuse to annoy me! "Hey, looks like luck was with me this time!" I swear I will kill him.

"You are such a JERK!" I yelled at him.

"Can't you be more creative with your insults?" he shouted back.

"Magical Hats!" A silk top hat appeared around me, and I transported myself to one of the four in the ground.

I immediately popped out of my hiding place. "Fourth lesson," I said, flourishing my wand before me and summoning the darker Dice twin. "Mess around with your opponents until you have them infuriated by your aggravating antics! Skull Dice!"

Laughing, the Magician of Black Chaos replied, "Said a mouthful there, didn't you?" Skull's red die hit him square in the chest and landed on the ground in front of him. A four.

Skull jumped on it and looked up. 'Yo, Dude,' he said, raising an arm up to salute the chaos mage. 'I like your style.'

The magician grinned and shrugged. He fired a long-distance attack at my Lifepoints, taking them down to 2300. I frowned, but at least that wasn't a devastating attack… He only had 700 attack points. "I'm not aggravated. Try again." I leapt forward and swung my wand at him. He dodged it easily.

Sure it's understandable and expected, but it still comes as a shock to me how good a fighter he is. Maybe I wasn't the best in the world, but I'm still a strong fighter; hours of hard training every day assure that.

But all I ever see him do is walk around aimlessly. I see him with a new job every time I run down to buy bandages or groceries. He does absolutely _nothing _to get him where he is today! Heck, last week, I caught him snoozing in my flower garden! When I woke him up, he asked me what _day_ it was. How long was he there? Does this guy ever train? Or is all that knowledge imprinted in his brain, somehow?

Whirling around, I fired another magical attack at him, but it was pretty much useless. "I dunno, DMG," he said and his palm smacked into my forehead, "but I think you're getting more frustrated than I am."

"AH?" He sent me tumbling backwards with a familiar technique. My spine took a harsh landing. Groaning, I pushed myself up with shaky arms. I stared at the Magician of Black Chaos in shock. How…? "You—You can do a Dark Magic Attack?" I demanded, and closed my eyes from the invading dust. My head hurt.

When I opened them, I saw him walking towards me. He stopped a couple of feet away, with a patronizing look on his face. "And I could probably Dark Burning Attack you if I wanted to. Those attacks were easy to learn." The level-eight magician shrugged and said, "But hey, I'm one of the best Dark Magicians out there. Did you expect any less of me?" He lowered his staff, its magenta tip facing me. "'A' for effort, I guess… but you really didn't stand a chance."

I pointed my finger up above my head.

The Magician of Black Chaos gaped in surprise just as the Magical Hat that I had kept suspended in the air dropped over me.

It's too bad that I didn't get to see his expression afterwards, but hey… it was worth it! Mainly because I got away. I sprang out from under the hat that I had hidden myself in. "Hey, Magician of Black Chaos!" He turned around before I even finished saying his name, but for once, I was faster than him. I crashed into him and pretty much tackled him to the ground, pinning him down with my knee in his stomach. His staff, I managed to wrench from his hand. "Don't underestimate me!" I said, beaming down at him.

Grimacing, the chaos mage muttered, "Ow. Get off of me."

"Lesson Five," I said, "Using you height to intimidate mages shorter than you!"

"Eh, really?" He started laughing and pointed a finger up at me. "I really do come off as a _jerk_ to you, don't I?" His dark eyes flashed deviously as he brought the hand down. The arena reacted the moment his palm hit the ground. "Then you're really gonna hate this." The ground beneath us trembled and fractured as dark light spilled from the cracks. I could almost hear the Chaos Command Magician sighing crossly at the sight of his work destroyed in mere seconds. "Chaos Sceptre Attack!"

We were blasted into the air, where I quickly lost my advantage.

My wand zoomed under me to keep me from falling back to the ground. The Magician of Black Chaos stood casually on his staff, as if it didn't require balancing and that he was standing on solid ground. I, on the hand, sat on my wand. "Looks like you have the upper hand again…"

He nodded but with a grin, he asked, "Since when did I lose it?" I glared at him and said nothing. It was true. No matter what happened, he always managed to find someway to get the better of me. "Chaos Sceptre Attack!"

Just as I steered out of the attack's way, he fired another one at me. The second one hit me dead-on. It was much stronger than I had anticipated. Skull's effect must have worn off. I couldn't soak up all of it—so I ended up being blasted out of the Magician of Black Chaos' way as he flew past me and toward my Lifepoints.

"Dang—dangit!" I growled, through clenched teeth, trying to force myself to recover more quickly. My body wouldn't obey. In fact, it seemed paralyzed…! I didn't feel very well. Keeping my wand in the air was turning into a difficult task!

"You've overestimated yourself." The chaos magician looked back over his shoulder. His mouth had curved into a condescending smile. "I hold more magic in one hand than you could in your entire body," he said, _way_ too arrogantly. I was grinding my teeth together. "You're like a sponge. Once you've absorbed all the magic you can physically hold, you stop. And when it does, my attacks will work like they're supposed to. And now, you're completely saturated, if you don't mind me using the term." Hm, the Magician of Black Chaos was a lot smarter than Master gave him credit for! This is what I was talking about…

Hey, waitaminute—did he just say I reminded him of a _sponge?_ "Stop comparing me to inanimate objects!" I cried, my face flushing. Weird, I didn't feel so motionless anymore! I felt reenergized! Anger's a powerful tool. But also reckless.

"Okay…" He shrugged. "A walking sponge, then."

A _what?_

Before I had a chance to scream at him, he raised a hand and sent me hurtling back with another magic attack.

'Thing's not working out too well?' Graceful appeared on my shoulder as soon as I managed to regain control of my wand and stopped it from spinning wildly and throwing me off.

Skull was on the other side. 'Naw,' he said sarcastically as I straightened my helmet with one hand while trying to keep my balance with the other, _'she's doing great!'_ How can they carry out such a casual conversation when everything's so hectic around us? 'Hey, Blondie! He's attacking your Lifepoints!' I scowled, fully aware of that.

'Do something!' With Skull and Graceful yelling in my ears, it was hard to think straight. The Magician of Black Chaos' attack was a powerful one. It was heading toward my Lifepoints! Arrgh, what was I supposed to do now?

I needed to redirect it! Guide it towards something else. Anything else! Even _me_ if I had to! 'Dark Magician Girl, you're going to lose!' But an attack of that power would obliterate me! I needed some sort of protection…! I don't want to lose!

'Blondie, do something!'

'Dark Magician Girl!'

Attack? Guide? Armor?

"Ah—Attack Guidance Armor!" I finally said in desperation. Magic pulled itself out of me. I stared in shock as it swirled around me, solidifying into a shiny, metal covering. Armor. A silvery breastplate covered my torso. Intricate designs decorated the front in different colors but mainly blue.

The Chaos Sceptre Attack came to a halt a few centimeters away from my Lifepoints. Then it shot towards me. The Magician of Black Chaos swerved out of its way and spun around to my direction. "What in Ra's name do you think you're doing?" he yelled at me. I shook my head slightly. Actually, I hadn't expected that to work…! I wasn't thinking! All I knew was that I didn't want to lose, but now… That attack would destroy me! _Then_ I would lose the Duel.

But I still don't want to lose! I bit my bottom lip, frowning as the dazzling magical blast soared at a lightning speed towards me. Just because I don't win doesn't mean that I have to lose!

There's a way out of this.

I held my hands out in front of me and called out, "Mirror Force!" and at the last, possible moment before the attack completely obliterated me, the wall appeared. His attack smashed into the transparent barrier protecting me. The Mirror Force riveted and throbbed violently before shredding apart. Black magic rained down on the field in a wild frenzy, striking everything within range.

Even the Magician of Black Chaos got hit!

I was gasping. The last fifteen seconds seemed so far away, yet I was still enduring the consequences of my actions. The world around me was spinning, and I was so tired. I wasn't sure what to do now, but I knew one thing:

The Duel ended.

'Wow.' The heavy spell armor disappeared, leaving me wrapped with a surprised, unstable feeling. Graceful just nodded and patted my cheek. 'You didn't win… but you didn't lose either.' My wand lowered itself until the bottom of my boots touched the arena ground. I stood up and exhaled slowly. My vision was returning.

"You are so stupid." My opponent walked toward me, his left hand clutching his right shoulder. It seemed to have taken a serious blow from my counterattack. "If you had been a second later, my attack would have killed you." He glowered at me and allowed his left fist to drop lightly on my head. _"Moron."_

Smiling innocently, I looked up at him. "Well, I just didn't want to lose…" I took a quick glance around the arena at both our Lifepoints. The Magician of Black Chaos' attack had been an inevitably strong one. The Mirror Force had sent that power flying everywhere on the Dueling field. Both sets of numbers had dropped to zero. I continued, "And… looks like a tie."

He frowned. "They hit zero at the same time?"

"Precisely." We turned our heads to the Judges' Table. To our surprise, all but one had ducked under the large table. And that one was—ta da!—the Chaos Command Magician. The light mage gave an uninterested "Meh" and then folded his arms on the charred table with his head resting on them. "If you're wondering, while the majority of the spectators sought protection from that last attack, I stayed to see the Duel to the end."

With astounded expressions on our faces, the Magician of Black Chaos and I looked at each other for a moment before returning our attention to the other chaos magician. "Are you crazy?" asked the dark Spellcaster standing next to me.

"Oh no," came the blunt reply. "I was just bored, and it seemed vaguely stimulating." I couldn't tell whether he was being sarcastic or not. His answer was certainly believable!

"'Stimulating', eh? I'm surprised that nobody got a seizure from all those flashing lights!" replied the Magician of Black Chaos gruffly.

"But anyway," continued the other chaos mage, unruffled, "yes, both of your Lifepoints reached zero at the same time. I, as the witness, am your incontrovertible proof."

I raised my eyebrows before having them meet in a frown. "Then… what does that mean? Are we both out of the tourney or do we both advance?"

Shrugging, the Chaos Command Magician said, "I personally favor the latter. Mainly because I found it most… entertaining. Especially the beginning." At that, I blushed furiously while the Magician of Black Chaos sniggered quietly behind his hand. He tried to pass it off as a cough when he caught me glaring at him, but I knew better. As the Judge Man and Unhappy Maiden emerged with the Witty Phantom, he asked them, "And what do you say?"

"Yeah, I think they should both pass…" the Unhappy Maiden said quietly, thoroughly shaken. "It was a cool Duel."

"Agreed…" The final Judge nodded and he took a seat between his daughter and the mage.

"Then it's settled," the Chaos Command Magician said, languidly, as he straightened and then stood up. "Both contestants may advance to the next round. And this announcement marks the conclusion of round three. Remaining competitors have a ten-minute interlude before the fourth."

The Witty Phantom looked around and said, "Hey, wait! Don't I get a say about whether those two can go on to the next round or not?"

Feigning shock, the Chaos Command Magician said, "Has the obvious eluded you, Fiend? Your opinion is worthless."

--

"You know what I think?" I asked the Magician of Black Chaos as we entered the halls. It was nice and cool here. Graceful and Skull floated after us. The other magician continued walking, stretching his right arm up and down, testing to see how badly his shoulder had been hurt. He didn't seem to be in any sort of pain, but Dark Magician men were good at hiding their thoughts and feelings. It got kinda annoying. Mainly when I'm getting all worked up over their indifference.

"That you got really lucky?" he asked, massaging his arm.

I stuck my tongue out at him. "No, not that." Sighing exasperatedly, I said, "I just thought that… well… You know what the perfect victory for me would've been?"

He looked daggers at me for daring to suggest that. Okay, this topic was definitely supposed to be untouched in all ways, for the sake of the Magician of Black Chaos' pride. He turned away and actually played along, "Finishing off my Lifepoints while yours were still a perfect and untouched 3k?"

"Umm…" I grinned, deciding to take my chances, and said, "Sure, but I prefer beating you with those Tremendous Fire spirits you gave me back in the Graveyard!" I noticed that he had completely stopped, so I did, too. Maybe I went too far with that… "Ah…Magician of Black Chaos…?"

"Okay… Let's get one thing straight here," he said, those scary magenta orbs of his flashing menacingly. "You. Do not. Beat. _ME._" His hands gripped my visor and pulled it roughly over my eyes. _"Ever."_ I blinked a few times. Hey, I was still alive. Skull and Graceful were laughing nearby.

Being the good sport that I was, I just smiled pleasantly as I readjusted my helmet along with the visor. I snatched his own headdress off his head and held it at my side. "And let me make myself clear, too," I said, watching him comb his bangs back with his fingers through half-closed eyes. He seemed to be tolerating me. Just long enough for me to say, "I. Keep. _This."_ I finished by sticking my tongue out at him. _"Mine._"

With a sardonic look on his face, he responded, "One more thing." I frowned at him. "Dark. Burning. _Attack."_ That sent me hurtling back. I could feel my own attack slicing through me, yet when I opened my eyes, I was still intact. That hurt. My own signature attack being used against me… Was that how the Magician of Black Chaos felt? Has that happened to Master? I looked up, still scowling to see that smirk on his face. _"HA."_

'Uh oh.'

I heard a 'swish' and recognized the purple robes of a certain Dark Magician. Skull and Graceful kept quiet. I got up and dusted myself off as Master strode over and smacked the Magician of Black Chaos with his staff. "OW! What'd I do now?" he griped, rubbing his arm.

Master closed his eyes, trying, with difficulty, to keep himself from repeating his action. "Ten minutes isn't nearly enough time to list it all."

Grinning guiltily, I admitted, "Well, it was kinda my fault… I was just teasing him for tying with me…" The Magician of Black Chaos glared at me some more. I wanted my entire being to disappear. I was not on his good side.

Master smiled subtly. "Right, I forgot about that." I gave him a look, asking 'Forgot about what?' Chuckling, Master said, "That the Magician of Black Chaos gets cranky when he doesn't win a Duel, of course." The said mage's eyes widened. Master leaned forward and said softly, "Isn't that right, _Loser?"_

My jaw hit the ground. Really hard. 'Holy crap,' Skull and Graceful said in unison. I stared.

The Magician of Black Chaos laughed quietly. "I see…" That tension between the two—the one that Black Magician risked his life to break apart—returned instantly. "You will die for this."

"I've already been to the Graveyard today," Master replied, turning around. That was dangerous, as well as insulting, to turn his back to the Magician of Black Chaos. He was in danger of being attacked from behind. But then, showing that he wasn't the slightest bit worried about it was the offensive part… "The Reaper of Cards is very unhappy with the lack of company there. No one's killing each other today, due to the critically acclaimed 'brutal' Shadow Realm Games." He looked back as he walked away. "Isn't that ironic?"

"Tch." The chaos mage was _not_ happy. And who could blame him?

I grabbed Skull and Graceful out of the air before they could make any unnecessary comments. After giving the Magician of Black Chaos a hasty, apologetic bow, I raced after my teacher. "Master, what was all that about?" I gasped, releasing Skull to latch onto his armor. "I mean…" My shoulders rose as I tried to come up with the right words to say. "Seriously… now that was _brutal!"_

"Really?" he asked, sounding unaffected by the news. "Well, that was your requested Amir imitation."

I sweatdropped. "Aw, I knew it was my fault." I giggled awkwardly and said, "So what made you change your mind, Master? Did you bump into Amir?" With the look he gave me, I continued, a little less enthusiastically, "Or is he just beyond redemption, and you just felt like teasing the Magician of Black Chaos while mocking Amir at the same time…?"

"Neither," he answered, smiling at the options I gave him. "I suppose I'm leaning toward the second choice, though." He folded his arms. "By the way, the chances of bumping into Amir again today are slim to none." His eyes narrowed irritably as he said, "so you don't have to worry about him constantly harassing you."

I blushed but didn't turn away. Was he… still angry about the kiss? I got an explanation from Amir, but Master didn't. "Oh, why's that?"

Master and his terse replies: "He usually leaves after he loses."

This time, he didn't need to elaborate. That was that, and the topic will not arise until… well not now. "I see."

I watched as he walked back, past me.

"Master, where are you going?"

"To apologize to the Magician of Black Chaos," he said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. I was curious on why, but I couldn't help the grin that was spreading across my face. "Actually, you were one-hundred percent correct on your second guess. I really had no right to take out my frustration with Amir on the Magician of Black Chaos." His fingers ran through his purple hair, his expression sheepish. "I think…"

Skull popped up beside his head and snorted. "Wimp."

Master flicked him out of the air with a finger and continued on his way.

When I was certain that my teacher was gone, I hurried over to Skull and knelt down beside the disoriented Skull Dice. He scratched his head and said quietly, reflectively, 'I always feel cold when he looks at me.'

Picking him up, I said to him, "Well, if you didn't always make those snide remarks, he wouldn't glare at you as often!" Skull brooded on the fact for a few minutes on my shoulder as I walked down the hall.

I think he learned a very valuable lesson.

* * *

**_Anime is in a better mood now…_**

Sorry for having all these negative Author's notes plaguing your reading experience. I really need to start bringing in positive commentary about my work… But thank you all for bearing with me! You seem to do that job for me:D As a thanks to all of you who actually read these notes, I will bring back some old characters that you feel should come back. Starting with Skull and Graceful in this chapter. But only those that appeared in the _Princess of Magic_ part of the trilogy. Go ahead and ask by review!

After reading the latest _Fruits Basket_ book, I feel unsatisfied with my own (Technically, they belong to Takahashi-san) characters' development compared to those of 'Furuba.' Anime will be working on that, as well as the action in her fanfics. :) Please look forward to that.

If you can, I'd be grateful if you critique my writings. When you're reading my fics, do you ask yourself "Whoa! How did he change so much in one chapter?" or "Wha…? That was fast. What happened here?" OR "Gee, Anime's being really repetitive…" If you find something wrong, then tell me! I want to be a better writer for my readers.

R&R!


	19. Finishing the Magic Trilogy

Hello, everyone. You've probably noticed that I haven't really been all that active on fanfiction(dot)net for a very, _very_ long time. What's it been? One to two years? Sigh.

You know how I mentioned that I haven't really been feeling it lately, and I've had a writer's block for this (I admit, it's the Duels)? It's hasn't changed, and after all these months, I doubt that it'll come back. For the most part, it has become more of the fact that I've fallen out of the Yu-Gi-Oh! fanfiction-writing fandom, and I've been busy with other projects lately. (I'm currently working on an online Yu-Gi-Oh! doujinshi—also starring Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl—but that is a collaboration, not completely my own fanwork. So it's become my first priority fanwork-wise… yeah, I'm making up words and excuses…)

So bascially, what I'm saying is that I will NOT be personally finishing the _Magic Trilogy._

I have two announcements I want to make:

Firstly, I want to thank all of you, yes every one of you wonderful people, who have reviewed or read a chapter of this unfinished series:) Thank you all so much for supporting me, even when I stopped writing. I was really surprised that I was still getting reviews and personal messages concerning the _Magic Trilogy_ even up to now, almost two years since my last update. Thank you, thank you, thank you all so much! You probably have no idea how much it meant to me!

Second, and possibly more importantly—for those who want to know of the fate of this trilogy—I'd like to ask WHO WANTS TO FINISH THE MAGIC TRILOGY? When I say finish, I mean the end of _this_ fanfic as well as the _final_ fanfic? _Who wants to write it?_ After reading an author's note on another story by a much more talented and well-known authoress here, I've decided to sort of take her idea… There are a few conditions:

First and foremost, I want a writer who is not like me and plans to indubitably **finish this trilogy.** I set no time limit. This story will be driven by purely your desire to write it… and possibly by reviewers' urgings.

Secondly, I'd like for you to adhere to the first-person point of view for Dark Magician Girl, I'd like you to keep all the Duel Monsters I've characterized in-character, and I'd like for you to keep their relationships consistent. For readers' comfort, y'know? Fair, right?

This is pretty important, too! I'd like to keep in touch with you so we can discuss the storyline, as I have more or less planned out the ending of _Princess of Magic_, and I have some vague ideas for the last fic _Magic Control._ (Although I suspect _Magic Control_ will undergo some serious revamping…Hahaha…)

Well, if you're interested, please provide a correct E-MAIL ADDRESS that you actually FREQUENTLY USE in a message (contact through message or my e-mail. Both links can be found on my userpage)! I'll e-mail you some conditions or thoughts… maybe a quick writing prompt to determine whose style I'd like to see finish the trilogy.

My dear friends, acquaintances, reviewers, readers… I have enjoyed writing for you. :D Thank you all for being so darn awesome! And chances are, the person who ends up writing the trilogy will be a ton better than me. :3 And maybe you'll see some fanfics from me again. Maybe someday…

(Since this note is against fanfiction(dot)net policies, I'll be deleting this "chapter" later, but you can still find it on my userpage. Thank you again for your support, everyone! And I thank, again, those who are contemplating to finish the _Magic Trilogy.)_

Ciao! ;D


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